Trigonopterus Corona

WHY IN THE NEWS?

Recently, scientists have discovered a new species of beetle named Trigonopterus corona on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

• It is not the only insect species to be named after the pandemic. In April 2021, a new species of caddisfly (a moth-like insect) was collected near a stream in Kosovo, and named Potamophylax coronavirus.

About:

• It has been named on pandemic which reflects the large impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on this project.
  • The researcher had been studying this genus (Trigonopterus) for the past 15 years and was delayed because Covid-19 pandemic hit.
• Trigonopterusis a hyperdiverse genus of flightless hidden-snout weevils (Cryptorhynchinae) ranging over the Indo-Australian-Melanesian archipelago.
  • Weevils are often called flour bugs because that is where they are frequently found, they are a type of beetle with an elongated snout.
• The genus Trigonopterusoriginated in Northern Australia and rapidly diversified in New Guinea before colonizing Sulawesi and dispersing further west to Sundaland (a bio-geographical area of south-eastern Asia).