The Namaini, a new weevil tribe with six new genera from South Africa (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae)

Based on a phylogenetic analysis of a large number of mainly undescribed edaphic Entiminae from South Africa, a new tribe of entimine weevils is described, which includes six new genera. Taxa included in Namaini trib. nov. are clustered into seven clades that are used to delimit the following genera: Nama, type genus of the tribe, plus the new genera Cederbergia gen. nov., Cervellaea gen. nov., Namaquania gen. nov., Pentamerica gen. nov., Springbokia gen. nov. and Yamalaka gen. nov. A key to the genera is given and four new species are described.

Systematic revision of the genus Isodacrys Sharp, 1911 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae: Tanymecini)

The genus Isodacrys Sharp, 1911 is revised. Twenty species of the genus are recognized ranging from south United States of America, Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras of which eight are herein described as new. These species are Isodacrys antrum Cortés-Hernández, new species (Mexico: Tamaulipas, Chiapas; Guatemala: Baja Verapaz); Isodacrys carlae Cortés-Hernández, new species (Mexico: Coahuila, Hidalgo, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas); Isodacrys confusum Cortés-Hernández, new species (Mexico: Tamaulipas); Isodacrys fasciatum Cortés-Hernández, new species (Mexico: Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo León); Isodacrys frontalis Cortés-Hernández, new species (Mexico: Oaxaca; Guatemala: Sacatepéquez, Guatemala); Isodacrys kuchii Cortés-Hernández, new species (Mexico: Puebla); Isodacrys obrienorum Cortés-Hernández, new species (Guatemala: Totonicapán, Jalapa, San Marcos); and Isodacrys okuiltontli Cortés Hernández, new species (Mexico: Oaxaca). Insights into the monophyly of Isodacrys and its phylogenetic relationships with other Tanymecini based on adult morphology are given by implementing a phylogenetic analysis of 43 terminals (21 ingroup, 22 outgroup) coded for 72 adult morphological characters. Characters were discussed and highlighted for the inclusion in the phylogenetic analysis. Final analysis yielded two most-parsimonious cladograms of 242 steps, which support the monophyly of Isodacrys. Isodillex Cortés-Hernández, new genus is here described to accommodate Isodillex minutum (Sharp, 1911), new combination and Isodillex plumosum Cortés-Hernández, new species (Mexico: Zacatecas). Isodillex was recovered as sister group of Isodacrys. Key to separate Isodacrys species, occurrence map and habitus photographs are also provided.

A Combined Molecular and Morphological Approach to Explore the Higher Phylogeny of Entimine Weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), with Special Reference to South American Taxa

The Entiminae are broad-nosed weevils constituting the most diverse subfamily of Curculionidae, with over 50 tribes. We performed Bayesian and Maximum Parsimony combined phylogenetic analyses with the main objective of testing higher-level relationships and the naturalness of the major Neotropical and Southern South American (Patagonia and Andes) tribes, including some members from other regions. We compiled a data matrix of 67 terminal units with 63 Entiminae species, as well as four outgroup taxa from Cyclominae, by 3522 molecular (from nuclear 18S rDNA and 28S rDNA, and mitochondrial 16S rDNA and COI gene sequences) and 70 morphological characters. The resulting trees recover a clade Entiminae with a monophyletic Cylydrorhinini and Premnotrypes branching off early. The tree resulting from parsimony analysis shows a clade of Leptopiini from the Australian region and another clade including taxa mainly distributed in the Palaearctic and Neotropical regions, but in the Bayesian tree the South American and Australian Leptopiini are grouped together. The mainly Palaearctic Entiminae (e.g., Brachyderini, Laparocerini, Otiorhynchini, Peritelini, Polydrusini, Phyllobiini and Sciaphylini) form a subclade separated from Southern Hemisphere taxa. Among the latter, the well-supported Naupactini are the sister group of the South American Tanymecini, excluding Platyaspistes, herein transferred to Leptopiini (new placement). Another well-justified clade is Eustylini–Geonemini, which also includes the enigmatic Galapagonotus, and the genus Artipus, thus corroborating its recent exclusion from Naupactini.

Weevils as Targets for Biological Control, and the Importance of Taxonomy and Phylogeny for Efficacy and Biosafety

Curculionidae are a large mainly herbivorous family of beetles, some of which have become crop pests. Classical biological control has been attempted for about 38 species in 19 genera, and at least moderate success has been achieved in 31 % of cases. Only two weevil species have been considered to be completely controlled by a biological control agent. Success depends upon accurately matching natural enemies with their hosts, and hence taxonomy and phylogeny play a critical role. These factors are discussed and illustrated with two case studies: the introduction of the braconid parasitoid Mictroctonus aethiopoides into New Zealand for biological control of the lucerne pest Sitona discoideus, a case of complex phylogenetic relationships that challenged the prediction of potential non-target hosts, and the use of a mymarid egg parasitoid, Anaphes nitens, to control species of the eucalypt weevil genus Gonipterus, which involves failure to match up parasitoids with the right target amongst a complex of very closely related species. We discuss the increasing importance of molecular methods to support biological control programmes and the essential role of these emerging technologies for improving our understanding of this very large and complex family.

Phylogeny of the Genus Dichotrachelus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Cyclominae)

A phylogenetic analysis of the genus Dichotrachelus (Curculionidae: Cyclominae) was carried out, based on a morphological matrix and, for some species, on mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I sequences. Bayesian Inference, Maximum Likelihood and Maximum Parsimony were implemented and the results were compared. The genus is found to be isolated in the subfamily, not related to the only other Palaearctic tribe (Hipporhinini) and possibly nearer to the south-American genera of Cyclominae of the tribe Listroderini. Among these, Macrostyphlus is also equally associated to mosses as the host plant. In Dichotrachelus, two main clades were recognized, one distributed in the western part of the Mediterranean region (Iberian Peninsula, northern Africa and southern France) and the second distributed in the Alps and Apennines. Within each clade, some differentiated monophyletic subgroups could be identified. An evaluation of the most important characters that led to the phylogenetic reconstruction indicated the male genital sclerite as the most useful structure to characterize the different clades.