About Scolopterus penicillatus White, 1846
This species, Scolopterus penicillatus, has a shining black body with a purplish tinge, and closely resembles its close relative Scolopterus tetracanthus. It can be distinguished from S. tetracanthus by the much less pointed shoulder spines on S. penicillatus. The beetle is found throughout New Zealand, and can be collected by beating native flowering plants during the summer months. Adult black spined weevils of this species have been collected from Hedychium gardnerianum, caught within the flowers of Helichrysum lanceolatum, and also collected from Urostemon on Hen Island. Larvae of Scolopterus penicillatus are known to develop in the recently dead bark of various Pseudopanax species. In 1956 and 1957, R A Crowson of Glasgow University stayed in New Zealand, where he found S. penicillatus larvae alongside pupae and teneral adults under the bark of a dead Nothopanax branch. These larvae, found at Parahaki and Nelson, were later identified as Scolopterus penicillatus by Crowson and Sir G. A. K. Marshall.
