Acicnemis Fairmaire, 1849

Oplocnemus Dejean, 1835 (Type species: Oplocnemus mucronatus Buquet nomen nudum).

Hoplocnemus Agassiz, 1846 (unjustified emendation of Oplocnemus).

Acienemis Motschulsky, 1863 (incorrect subsequent spelling).

Berethia Pascoe, 1872 (Type species: Berethia medinotata Pascoe, 1872).

Acicnemus Haly, 1890 (incorrect subsequent spelling).

Type species.

Acicnemis variegata Fairmaire, 1849 (by subsequent designation).

Gender.

Feminine.

Description.

Body length 2.0–12.0 mm. Scale pattern: Usually cryptically patterned with contrasting brown, black, gray, and dull yellow scales. Pronotum and elytra often with erect scales. Head: Rostrum evenly curved in most species, and variably longer in females than in males; eyes large, ovate, and non-contiguous; antennae with seven-articled funicle. Prothorax: Densely punctate; pronotum often with tufts of erect scales; prosternum lacking well defined prosternal canal. Elytra: Scutellum varied (large, plate-like, naked scutellum in some species, or small and covered in scales in others); erect scales often only on odd-numbered elytral intervals; elytra unmodified in most species, costate in a few; elytra with apical projections in some species ( A. laticollis Pascoe, 1885); low tubercles along elytral intervals in some species, absent in most; volant, hind wings functional. Thorax: Sclerolepidia varied: prominent and protruding in some species, forming low, indistinct tubercles in others. Abdomen: First and second sternites variably concave medially in males (convex or flat in females). Legs: Femora all bearing a large ventral tooth (simple in most species, serrated in a few); forelegs elongate in some species (e. g., A. longimana Hubenthal, 1922); third tarsomeres emarginate (bilobed) in most species, truncate in a few; tarsal claws simple.

Distribution.

Acicnemis species are broadly distributed across the Palearctic Region (Azerbaijan, China, Georgia, Japan, Korean archipelago, Russia, Taiwan), the Oriental Region (Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam), the Australasian Region (Australia, Fiji, New Guinea, Samoa, Tahiti, Tonga), and apparently also the Afrotropical Region (Nigeria) (Hubenthal 1919 a, b; Zimmerman 1967; Alonso-Zarazaga and Lyal 1999; Kojima and Morimoto 2004; Oziegbe and Faluyi 2010; Pullen et al. 2014; Alonso-Zarazaga et al. 2023).

Ecology and natural history.

The larvae of Trachodini mine through dead wood (Lyal 2014). Host plant associations are not well known in Acicnemis; however, a few records exist ( Acicnemis palliata Pascoe, 1872 with Wisteria floribunda (Willd.) DC. and W. sinensis (Sims) DC. ( Fabaceae) (Morimoto and Miyakawa 1995; Lee and Morimoto 1996; Zhang 2021); Acicnemis suturalis Roelofs, 1875 with Wisteria brachybotrys Siebold & Zucc. (Morimoto and Miyakawa 1995; Lee and Morimoto 1996); Acicnemis crassiusculus Fairmaire, 1878 with Hibiscus tiliaceus L. (1753) ( Malvaceae) and Ludwigia spp. ( Onagraceae) (Zimmerman 1943; Oziegbe and Faluyi 2010); the larvae of one unidentified Acicnemis species were taken from a dead stem of Castanopsis sieboldii (Makino) Hatus ( Fagaceae) (Lee and Morimoto 1996). Some species are attracted to lights (e. g., A. azumai) (JHL pers. obs.).