Around the World

A medium sized family of around 70 species included in 23 genera and 3 subfamilies worldwide. They have sometimes been included within the Curculionidae but the larvae show affinities with the Anthribidae. As in the anthribidae the labrum is separate from the clypeus i.e. not fused, and the maxillary palps are long and protruding. Nemonychids have all the abdominal sternites free whereas in anthribids they are connate, or at least partly fused. Nemonychids also lack the lateral pronotal carinae that are usually present, if sometimes short, in anthribids. Morphologically nemonychids are distinct from curculionids and other weevils by the combination of orthocerous antennae, the distinct labrum, and habitus. The family occurs worldwide although the distribution is rather patchy; across Europe and east through Asia Minor, central Russia and China but not Japan. Eastern Australia, New Zealand and New Guinea. Throughout the Nearctic south to Columbia, Brazil and Chile.15 species included in 5 genera (including 7 species of Cimberis des Gozis, 1881) occur in the (mostly western) U.S.A. 5 species occur in Canada. Of the 3 European species only Cimberis attelaboides (Fabricius, 1787) occurs in the U.K. Most species occur on Pine. The adults are seldom seen as they generally occur for only a few weeks to coincide with the host trees producing male flowers. In temperate regions the adults occur early in the year, often while snow still persists, and are almost always found among the flowers where they feed on pollen. Females oviposit in the flowers where the larvae will also feed on pollen, although they have also been recorded feeding on other plant hosts. Mature larvae drop from the flowers to the ground where they pupate in the soil. The pupal stage can be protracted, lasting from a few months to two years. In temperate regions pine is the primary host but elsewhere other gymnosperms are chosen; Araucarinaceae and Podocarpaceae (Australia, New Zealand, South America, Indochina and the Philippines) and some primitive angiosperms e.g. Fagaceae and Ranunculaceae. In general the species are naturally distributed in mountain or boreal regions but with extensive introduction of pines for the timber industry they are now much more widely spread. The family is well represented in both hemispheres with roughly the same number of species in the temperate regions of South America, New Zealand and Australia as  in  the  Holarctic.  Several  new  species  have  recently  been