Abstract
The paper records the rediscovery of the rare Urodontidius enigmaticus Louw, 1993 in South Africa, based on specimens reared from galls in the succulent leaves of Ruschia versicolor. The original account of some of the morphological characters of the species is corrected, and its habitus, antennae, pygidium and genitalia are illustrated. Its life history and galling habit on its host plant are described and illustrated, and its larva is compared with those of the genera Urodontellus Louw and Urodontus Louw, which represent different larval types with different life histories. The silk-spinning habits of the Urodontellus larva are briefly described. A tribute to the late Schalk Louw is presented, together with a list of his publications on weevils.
Highlights
The anthribid subfamily Urodontinae is remarkable in many ways
We report the rediscovery of this rare species, describe and illustrate additional morphological aspects of it and record the extraordinary galling habit and life history of its larva
The study is based on 1 male and 28 adult females and 4 larvae of Urodontidius enigmaticus, as sent to RGO from the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa, where they were retrieved from Schalk Louw’s office by his colleague Charles Haddad
Summary
The anthribid subfamily Urodontinae is remarkable in many ways. It is morphologically quite different from Anthribinae (including Choraginae), i.a., by not having a bracteate pronotal carina, the mandibles without a mycetangial pocket, the hind wings with only three veins, the hind gut with a rectal ring, tergite VIII exposed in the males and the gonocoxites of the ovipositor not apically sclerotised and dentate [1]. Bolus (Aizoaceae) in west-coastal Namaqualand, South Africa, and recorded its life history He handed the specimens to Schalk Louw for identification, who surmised it to be a new species of Urodontus Louw and was busy studying it at the time of his sudden and untimely death, in April 2018. We report the rediscovery of this rare species, describe and illustrate additional morphological aspects of it and record the extraordinary galling habit and life history of its larva. We take this opportunity to pay tribute to the late Schalk Louw and his contributions to the study of weevils, in southern Africa
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