New Beetle Genus Documented for Vermont

Vermont is home to nearly 70 wild orchid species, which are loved by many for their beautiful and unique flowers. Despite their popularity, we don’t even know who pollinates some species. Last summer, Laura Costello, a UVM Field Naturalist Program graduate student working with VCE biologist Desiree Narango, placed automated cameras at White Bog Orchid (Platanthera dilatata), recording over 55 days of potential visitors. The results are still being examined, but already a genus of beetle has been documented for the first time in Vermont, Stethobaris, a genus of flower weevils in the beetle family Curculionidae with about 25 described species. There doesn’t appear to be any records of these from museum collections. It is likely S. ovata or S. incompta, as both are known to be associated with Platanthera and occur in the northeastern United States.

“I’ve observed at least 64 species of insect from across eight insect orders visiting the orchid, including this beetle,” wrote Laura. “One of the things I love about field science is that you never know what you might find. My focus was on butterfly and moth visitors, because they are the most commonly-reported pollinators of this orchid elsewhere in the country. It never occurred to me that my cameras might record a new beetle genus for Vermont. And I never would have known if I hadn’t put the observations on iNaturalist Vermont for the community to identify. What a delight!”

Map of known records of Stethobaris with three new records for Vermont from automated cameria images below.