Melittomma

Larvae inhabit galleries bored into hardwoods and palm stems, particularly at the base of trunks. For M. insulare, habitat is specifically coconut palm plantations and endemic palm forests in the Seychelles and Madagascar.

Pantropical distribution. Documented from Africa (including South Africa), Madagascar, Seychelles, Southeast Asia (Java), and the Neotropics (Brazil, Panama). Specific records include: M. insulare in Seychelles (Praslin Island, Mahé Island) and Madagascar; M. africanum in Africa; M. javanicum in Java; M. brasiliense and M. panamense in the Neotropics.

Larvae feed on fluids extracted from parenchymatous tissues of wood, not on solid wood. Feeding is associated with ambrosia fungi that grow in larval galleries.

• Cocos nucifera - larval hostcoconut palm; primary host for M. insulare
• Stevensonia borsigiana - larval hostendemic palm in Madagascar and Seychelles
• Endemic palms (Seychelles) - primitive hosttwo unspecified endemic palm species; original hosts for M. insulare in Seychelles

Eggs laid under cover in batches, hatching in approximately 11 days. Larval period indefinite, depending on wood sappiness. Pupation occurs in enlarged end of boring. Adults are nocturnal and short-lived.

Adult females deposit fungal spores in a sticky matrix when laying eggs; larvae carry spores into wood on their bodies. Adults are attracted to light. Larvae bore into bases of palms and hardwoods, creating extensive tunnel systems.

Wood-boring beetles that facilitate fungal decomposition of hardwoods and palms. Form obligate or facultative symbioses with ambrosia fungi. Some species are significant economic pests of coconut plantations.

M. insulare is a serious pest of coconut palms in the Seychelles and northern Madagascar, causing extensive rotting of palm boles and tree collapse. Historical control attempts using paradichlorobenzene fumigation (1953–1958) were largely ineffective; subsequent tar-based treatments (coal tar creosote) proved more successful in reducing infestation rates.

• AtractocerusBoth genera in Lymexylidae with highly reduced elytra exposing elongated abdomen; Atractocerus has even more reduced elytra and large eyes suggesting predatory lifestyle, unlike Melittomma
• LymexylonBoth genera in Lymexylidae with larval wood-boring habits and ambrosia fungus associations; Lymexylon species are primarily Palearctic and historically destructive to ship timbers

• ship-timber beetles
• ambrosia beetles
• coconut pest
• symbiotic fungi
• wood-borer
• pantropical
• Seychelles
• Madagascar
• economic pest
• Lymexylidae

• BugGuide
• Wikipedia
• GBIF taxonomy match
• iNaturalist taxon
• NCBI Taxonomy
• Catalogue of Life
• Lymexylidae | Beetles In The Bush
• Melittomma insulare . [Distribution map].
• The control of the coconut pest Melittomma insulare (Coleoptera, Lymexylidae) in Seychelles.
• Melittomma insulare, Fairm. (Col. Lymexylonidae), a serious Pest of Coconut in the Seychelles
• The Biology of the Coconut PestMelittomma insulare(Col., Lymexylonidae), and its Control in the Seychelles
• An Investigation of the Possibilities of Biological Control ofMelittomma insulareFairm. (Coleoptera, Lymexylonidae), a serious Pest of Coconut in the Seychelles