Among hundreds of beetle specimens on display across Australian museums, many are still unidentified. Scientists recently discovered 24 new species of beetles belonging to the weevil genus Trigonopterus.
In the study published online in the journal ZooKeys, German museum scientists Alexander Riedel and Rene Tänzler added the new species discovered from Australian rain forests to the weevil genus.
"Usually a delay of decades or even centuries occurs between the encounter of a new species in the field and its thorough scientific study and formal naming," Riedel of the State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe said.
He added that there are only a few experts focusing on discovering new species and there are millions of unidentified insect species across museums around the globe. Only a small number of people are trained to identify these species.
Most of the specimens were collected in the '80s and '90s and were kept in museums until the two scientists had the opportunity to study them. The scientists discovered that the newly described weevils are limited to small areas of rain forests in northern Queensland, Australia.
They added that the reason why these species were not able to spread is perhaps their lack of wings. This prohibited the beetles from travelling and spreading. The beetles dwell mostly in the leaf litter, which makes them easily overlooked.
"There are millions of species on our planet with whom we co-exist," Riedel said.
"What's most exciting for me is to make a few of these new forms of life visible to others as well. And, of course, this has practical implications for national parks and so on, because if you realize that there are lots of species endemic to the region, then there is special value in protecting it," he added.
The researchers suggest that a dense sampling of specimens with molecular data covering the east coast of Queensland and the northern part of New South Wales will help delineate species boundaries.
"Thus, a solution of these taxonomic problems mainly depends on freshly collected material suitable for DNA sequencing," the researchers said.
"The geographical ranges and ecologies of these 'difficult species' will become sufficiently clear with such a study, hopefully allowing the safe identification of all the unnamed specimens stored in museum collections," they added.
