Pachnobium dreuxi, n. g., n. sp. discovered as a fossil and still living in the Crozet Islands (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Ectemnorrhininae)

Pachnobium dreuxi, n. g., n. sp. discovered as a fossil and still living in the Crozet Islands (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Ectemnorrhininae). Pachnobium dreuxi, a new genus and species of Ectemnorrhininae weevil, was first discovered as a fossil in a Holocene sedimentary sequence at lie de la Possession (Crozet Islands, southern Indian Ocean). Two modern specimens were subsequently found in the collections of the Museum national d'Histoire naturelle (Paris). Pachnobium dreuxi n. g., n. sp. differs readily from all other species of the subfamily by its rostrum deeply emarginated at the apex, massive head, reduced sclerotinization, straight and flattened foretibiae, etc. Its biology and ecology are almost completely unknown, although some aspects of its morphology such as its reduced sclerotinization and relatively small eyes argue for a hidden life among vegetal debris or in cavities of the ground like petrel nests. The paleoenvironmental reconstruction suggests that this species lives in densely vegetated habitats. The two modern specimens were collected in two widely separated islands, Ile de l'Est and Ile des Pingouins, but the lack of modern captures on Possession Island raises the question of its continued presence there.