Archery Platforms (Vahi te'a) in the Society Islands, Polynesia A contextual interpretation

The aim of this paper is to try to reach a better understanding of the meanings of archery platforms and the rituals which took place around the archery competitions in the Society Islands in central Polynesia. A contextual interpretation of the material remains is therefore suggested. The conclusions based on the archaeological and ethnohistorical descriptions show that the development of archery platforms took place within a specific historical context and expresses the Polynesian concepts of mana (power) and tapu (prohibitions).

Les Simodactylus Candèze, 1859 de Polynésie française (Coleoptera, Elateridae)

The Simodactylus Candèze, 1859, of French Polynesia (Coleoptera, Elateridae). While only two species of Simodactylus were known from French Polynesia, Simodactylus cinnamomeus (Boisduval, 1835) and Simodactylus perraulti Chassain, 2001, a third species has been collected on the island of Raiatea, in the Society Islands, Simodactylus delfini Fleutiaux, 1907. A key to the three Simodactylus species of French Polynesia is proposed as well as figures of the discriminating characters.

Negative impacts of invasive predators used as biological control agents against the pest snail Lissachatina fulica: the snail Euglandina ‘rosea’ and the flatworm Platydemus manokwari

Since 1955 snails of the Euglandina rosea species complex and Platydemus manokwari flatworms were widely introduced in attempted biological control of giant African snails (Lissachatina fulica) but have been implicated in the mass extinction of Pacific island snails. We review the histories of the 60 introductions and their impacts on L. fulica and native snails. Since 1993 there have been unofficial releases of Euglandina within island groups. Only three official P. manokwari releases took place, but new populations are being recorded at an increasing rate, probably because of accidental introduction. Claims that these predators controlled L. fulica cannot be substantiated; in some cases pest snail declines coincided with predator arrival but concomitant declines occurred elsewhere in the absence of the predator and the declines in some cases were only temporary. In the Hawaiian Islands, although there had been some earlier declines of native snails, the Euglandina impacts on native snails are clear with rapid decline of many endemic Hawaiian Achatinellinae following predator arrival. In the Society Islands, Partulidae tree snail populations remained stable until Euglandina introduction, when declines were extremely rapid with an exact correspondence between predator arrival and tree snail decline. Platydemus manokwari invasion coincides with native snail declines on some islands, notably the Ogasawara Islands of Japan, and its invasion of Florida has led to mass mortality of Liguus spp. tree snails. We conclude that Euglandina and P. manokwari are not effective biocontrol agents, but do have major negative effects on native snail faunas. These predatory snails and flatworms are generalist predators and as such are not suitable for biological control.

First record of the superfamily Proctotrupoidea from French Polynesia (Hymenoptera)

A Helorid wasp, Helorus ruficornis Förster, 1856, is reported for the first time on Tahiti (Society Islands), which is also the first record of both Proctotrupoidea and family Heloridae in French Polynesia. The potential hosts of Helorus ruficornis in French Polynesia are discussed.

A new species of the axiid shrimp genus Manaxius Kensley, 2003 (Decapoda: Axiidea) from shallow coral reefs of the western Pacific

Manaxius paullus, a new species of axiid burrowing shrimp, is described on the basis of a female holotype from the Society Islands, French Polynesia, and a female paratype from the Ryukyu Islands, Japan. Both specimens were collected on shallow coral reefs. The new species is morphologically closest to five of 17 congeners, viz., M. euophthalmus (de Man, 1905), M. izuensis (Komai, 2011), M. mimasensis (Sakai, 1967), M. poupini (Komai, 2016) and M. supia Poore, 2020, but can be separated from all of them by the rostrum being relatively broad and with one pair of lateral spines, in addition to a pair of supraocular spines; the presence of a subdistal spine on the dorsal margin of the cheliped ischium; the presence of additional three or four small spines on each cheliped palm, adjacent to the dorsal margin; and the lack of a spine near the base of the fingers of each cheliped palm.

Three new species of Scyracepon Tattersall, 1905 (Isopoda: Bopyridae) from Pacific islands, with comments on the rarity of bopyrids parasitizing brachyurans

Three new species of the bopyrid genus Scyracepon Tattersall, 1905 are described from crabs collected on Pacific Islands: Scyracepon polynesiensis n. sp. from the Society Islands, S. pseudoliomerae n. sp. from the Mariana Islands, and S. biglobosus n. sp. from the Line Islands. The first two were found infesting Xanthias lamarckii and Pseudoliomera sp. (Xanthidae), a new host family for species of Scyracepon, and the last was found parasitizing Schizophrys aspera (Majidae). Scyracepon now includes 11 species, all but one known from single collections, infesting 12 host species in 9 brachyuran families. The discovery of three new species, each rare, suggests that crab parasites are undersampled, and further suggests that the low relative diversity of bopyrids known from brachyurans may partly reflect this undersampling. Keys to all species of Scyracepon and to all 31 genera of Keponinae are provided.

Extinct and extant Pacific Trogossitidae and the evolution of Cleroidea (Coleoptera) after the Late Triassic biotic crisis

A new subgenus of Tenebroides, Polynesibroides subgen. nov., is established for six potentially extinct beetles, Tenebroides atiu, T. moorea, T. raivavae, T. rimatara, T. tubuai and T. mihiura spp. nov., described from the Cook, Austral and Society Islands based on subfossil fragments, and the extant T. tahiti sp. nov. from the island of Tahiti, Society Islands. Here we present the first detailed time-scaled phylogeny of the superfamily Cleroidea inferred from our four-gene dataset, including T. tahiti. Bayesian tip-dating, incorporating 17 fossils, estimated that Cleroidea appeared at the end of the Triassic (~210 Mya). The split of Biphyllidae + Byturidae + Phloiophilidae was reconstructed at ~204 Mya, followed by Early Jurassic separation of Trogossitidae (~200 Mya), Acanthocnemidae (~197 Mya), stem Cleridae–Thanerocleridae–Chaetosomatidae (~194 Mya), Peltidae, Lophocateridae, Decamerinae and the melyrid lineage (~191 Mya). Trogossitidae diversified by separation of Kolibacia (~136 Mya) in the Cretaceous, followed by parting Temnoscheila + Nemozoma and Airora + Tenebroides lineages (~113 Mya). Tenebroides radiated ~75 Mya and T. tahiti diverged from Panamanian taxa in the Middle Eocene (~40 Mya). Fourteen morphological characters of Pacific trogossitids were analysed. Parallelodera, including the Panamanian species, is nested within Tenebroides being sister to Polynesibroides. Therefore, Parallelodera is classified as a subgenus of Tenebroides. Tenebroides fairmairei is placed in the subgenus Parallelodera. A Neotropical origin for Parallelodera and Polynesibroides is inferred.