Baezia martini García, 2003

García, Rafael, López, Heriberto & Oromí, Pedro, 2007, Additional data to the genus Baezia with description of a new species from a cave on El Hierro, Canary Islands (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Molytinae), Zootaxa 1631, pp. 47-55 : 53

Baezia martini García, 2003

Studied material. La Palma. Cueva de las Cáscaras (Puntagorda, 500 m a.s.l., 28RBS085869): 1ɗ (holotype), 28-III-2002, R. García leg.; 1Ψ (paratype), 28-III-2002, R. García leg.; 1ɗ (paratype), 20-VI-2002, R. García leg.; 1ɗ(paratype), 27-VII-2002, R. García leg.; 1 ex., 10-XI-2005, R. García leg. Cueva de la Mamona (Puntagorda, 600 m a.s.l., 28RBS087867): 1 ex., 16-III-2005, R. García leg.

Biology and ecology. The specimens of the typical series come from Cueva de las Cáscaras and were obtained by sieving dead roots of Canary pine ( Pinus canariensis C. Sm. ex DC. in Buch) and almond tree accumulated together with almond shells on the clayish substrate ( García 2003). Baezia martini must therefore be rhizophagous like the other species above mentioned, since almond shells are only incidentally in the underground (carried by introduced mice) and too hard for weevil larvae. This cave is at the northwest of La Palma, a leeward zone for the trade winds, with well developed soil and a vegetation mainly of Canary pine and abandoned almond trees and prickly pear fields ( García and González 2001). The habitat outside the cave is rather similar to that of Cueva de los Palmeros but with more developed soil and more abundant trees.

More recently one specimen of Baezia martini has been collected in Cueva de la Mamona, also located in the northwest, not far from Cueva de las Cáscaras and in similar terrains apparently formed during the same geological event. Very probably this species occupies the underground of this part of La Palma, vicariant from B. vulcania which is spread over the southeastern areas of the island. The intensive research that members of the local Tebexcorade Caving Club are carrying out in the northwest very probably will provide new information on this subject.