Ficicis porcatus (Chapuis)

Beaver, R. A. & Liu, L. Y., 2010, An annotated synopsis of Taiwanese bark and ambrosia beetles, with new synonymy, new combinations and new records (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae), Zootaxa 2602, pp. 1-47 : 15-16

43. Ficicis porcatus (Chapuis)

Hylesinus porcatus Chapuis, 1869: 31 .

Distribution: Japan, Taiwan, Philippines, Indonesia (Bali, Java, Sumatra), New Guinea, Australia and throughout the Pacific islands. [5]

Hosts: Normally attacks trees in the family Moraceae ( Ficus spp. , Artocarpus spp. ), but there are occasional records from other angiosperm families (e.g. Beaver & Maddison 1990). It was probably transported to the Pacific islands together with a staple food, the breadfruit ( Artocarpus altilis ), during man’s early migration into the area.

Biology: A phloeophagous species with gallery system closely resembling that of other species in the genus ( Browne 1961, Beaver 1976).

Taxonomy: Listed as a synonym of Ficicis despectus (Walker) by Wood & Bright (1992), but we consider it to be a distinct species, with synonyms Ficicis koebelei Lea , Hylesinus crassus Beeson , H. insularum Beeson , H. philippinensis Eggers , H. subcostatus Eggers , H. subopacus Eggers , Phloeosinus goliathoides Murayama.

We have examined type material of all these species except F. koebelei and P. goliathoides (NHMB, NHML, NMW, USNM) . The species has a more easterly distribution than Ficicis despectus .