Records of the Western Australian Museum 17: 163-167 (1995). 
A new Catasarcus species (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae) from the 
Shark Bay - Kalbarri region of Western Australia 
Magnus Peterson 
Unit 35/12 Wellington Street, Mosman Park, Western Australia 6012 
Abstract - Catasarcus militaris, a new species of apterous weevil from near 
mid-west coastal Western Australia, is described and the holotype and male 
genitalia are figured. A distribution map is included for it and four similar 
allopatric Catasarcus species, including three informally designated the C, 
marginispinis species-group. Diagnoses are provided for six taxa, including a 
less closely allied species that is the only Catasarcus known to be sympatric 
with C. militaris. Brief ecological notes on C. militaris are provided. 
INTRODUCTION 
The Australian endemic, apterous weevil genus 
Catasarcus Schoenherr was most recently revised 
by Thompson (1968) who considered it to contain 
42 valid taxa, of which all but four are confined to 
Western Australia. No further species have been 
described since that time and many remain poorly 
known, despite considerable additional collecting 
in previously unsampled areas. During a field trip 
to the Shark Bay region in early December 1988 I 
collected a small number of Catasarcus specimens, 
several of which proved, upon closer examination, 
to belong to an undescribed "quadrispinate" 
species. An additional 10 specimens of this new 
taxon, from another (more southern) locality, were 
later found in the Western Australian Museum 
collection. These 13 specimens form the basis for 
the following description. 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
Specimen measurements are linear and have been 
measured to the nearest 0.05 mm with an eyepiece 
graticule on a Zeiss stereomicroscope. For 
comparative purposes, description format and 
morphological terminology/measurements con¬ 
form to Thompson (1968), with text abbreviations 
(capitalised in parentheses) and further definitions 
of character measurements as follows: total length 
(TL) - from anterior margin of epistome to elytral 
apex in dorsal view; total width (TW) - at widest 
point of body (elytra) excluding posthumeral 
spines; elytral length (AC) - see Thompson (1968: 
367); anterior spine index (ASI) - see Thompson 
(1968: 368); posterior spine index (PSI) - calculated 
by same method as Thompson (1968) used to 
derive ASI; anterior and posterior dorsal elytral 
spine lengths (LAS, LPS respectively) - from centre 
of base (base defined as point where elytral 
dorsum abruptly changes angle - i.e. nearest strial 
puncture) to apex, when viewed dorsally with 
spine in horizontal plane; distance between 
posterior dorsal elytral spine bases (IPSB) - from 
centre of spine base to same; on each elytron, 
distance between anterior and posterior dorsal 
elytral spine bases (IAPSB) - as for IPSB; distance 
between posterior dorsal elytral spine apices 
(IPSA). The following collection codens are used in 
the text: CALM - Department of Conservation and 
Land Management, Woodvale, W.A.; MPWA - 
author's collection; WAM - Western Australian 
Museum, Perth. 
SYSTEMATICS 
Catasarcus militaris sp. nov. 
Figures 1-3 
Material Examined 
Holotype 
2, 32.3 km NE. of Tamala HS, Western Austra¬ 
lia, Australia in 26°32'S, 113°59'E, 10 December 
1988, M. Peterson, on leaves of Grevillea 
candelabroides (WAM 90/19). 
Paratypes 
Australia: Western Australia: 1 2 (MPWA) and 
1 S (WAM 90/20), same data as for holotype; 2 2 
and 2 6 (WAM 78/40-41, 90/26-27), Carrollgouda 
Well, Kalbarri area, 30 November 1968, Hale 
School; 6 d (WAM 78/39, 90/21-25), same data 
except 28 November 1968. 
Diagnosis 
A member of the quadrispinate section of 
Catasarcus, though occasional specimens bispinate 
