El género <i>Drouetius</i> Méquignon, 1942 stat. prom., de las islas Azores (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Entiminae)

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.

Conservation status of the forest beetles (Insecta, Coleoptera) from Azores, Portugal

Background

Island biodiversity is under considerable pressure due to the ongoing threats of invasive alien species, land use change or climate change. The few remnants of Azorean native forests harbour a unique set of endemic beetles, some of them possibly already extinct or under severe long term threat due to the small areas of the remaining habitats or climatic changes. In this contribution we present the IUCN Red List profiles of 54 forest adapted beetle species endemic to the Azorean archipelago, including species belonging to four speciose families: Zopheridae (12 species), Carabidae (11 species), Curculionidae (11 species) and Staphylinidae (10 species).

New information

Most species have a restricted distribution (i.e. 66% occur in only one island) and a very small extent of occurrence (EOO) and area of occupancy (AOO). Also common to most of the species is the severe fragmentation of their populations, and a continuing decline in EOO, AOO, habitat quality, number of locations and subpopulations caused by the ongoing threat from pasture intensification, forestry, invasive species and future climatic changes. Therefore, we suggest as future measures of conservation: (1) a long-term monitoring plan for the species; (2) control of invasive species; (3) species-specific conservation action for the most highly threatened species.

Phylogenetic analysis of the genus Laparocerus, with comments on colonisation and diversification in Macaronesia (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Entiminae)

The flightless Entiminae weevil genus Laparocerus is the species-richest genus, with 237 species and subspecies, inhabiting Macaronesia (Madeira archipelago, Selvagens, Canary Islands) and the continental 'Macaronesian enclave' in Morocco (one single polytypic species). This is the second contribution to gain insight of the genus and assist in its systematic revision with a mitochondrial phylogenetic analysis. It centres on the Canarian clade, adding the 12S rRNA gene to the combined set of COII and 16S rRNA used in our first contribution on the Madeiran clade (here re-analysed). The nuclear 28S rRNA was also used to produce an additional 4-gene tree to check coherency with the 3-gene tree. A total of 225 taxa (95%) has been sequenced, mostly one individual per taxa. Plausible explanations for incoherent data (mitochondrial introgressions, admixture, incomplete lineage sorting, etc.) are discussed for each of the monophyletic subclades that are coincident with established subgenera, or are restructured or newly described. The overall mean genetic divergence (p-distance) among species is 8.2%; the mean divergence within groups (subgenera) ranks from 2.9 to 7.0% (average 4.6%), and between groups, from 5.4% to 12.0% (average 9.2%). A trustful radiation event within a young island (1.72 Ma) was used to calibrate and produce a chronogram using the software RelTime. These results confirm the monophyly of both the Madeiran (36 species and subspecies) and the Canarian (196 species and subspecies) clades, which originated ca. 11.2 Ma ago, and started to radiate in their respective archipelagos ca. 8.5 and 7.7 Ma ago. The Madeiran clade seems to have begun in Porto Santo, and from there it jumped to the Desertas and to Madeira, with additional radiations. The Canarian clade shows a sequential star-shape radiation process generating subclades with a clear shift from East to West in coherence with the decreasing age of the islands. Laparocerus garretai from the Selvagens belongs to a Canarian subclade, and Laparocerus susicus from Morocco does not represent the ancestral continental lineage, but a back-colonisation from the Canaries to Africa. Dispersal processes, colonisation patterns, and ecological remarks are amply discussed. Diversification has been adaptive as well as non-adaptive, and the role of 'geological turbulence' is highlighted as one of the principal drivers of intra-island allopatric speciation. Based on the phylogenetic results, morphological features and distribution, five new monophyletic subgenera are described: Aridotroxsubg. n., Belicariussubg. n., Bencomiussubg. n., Canariotroxsubg. n., and Purpuraniussubg. n., totalling twenty subgenera in Laparocerus.

La morfología de Laparocerus undatus Wollaston, 1864 y consideraciones sobre la tribu Laparocerini Lacordaire, 1863 (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Entiminae)

Se presenta un estudio morfológico de Laparocerus undatus Wollaston, 1864 que comprende la anatomía externa e interna del adulto, incluido el canal alimentario, sistema nervioso central y sistema reproductor. También se describen las anatomías de la larva y de la pupa, hasta ahora desconocidas en el género. Los Laparocerus son curculiónidos entiminos que muestran algunos caracteres primitivos infrecuentes en el grupo. Se plantea si se justifica o no mantener la tribu Laparocerini, pendiente de revisión desde que fuera establecida por Lacordaire en 1863. Se discuten las semejanzas halladas en los caracteres imaginales y preimaginales con otros géneros y tribus, y se buscan las relaciones genéticas más cercanas empleando secuencias parciales del gen 16SrRNA de una veintena de especies, obtenidas de GenBank. Laparocerus presenta importantes caracteres singulares o combinación de ellos, y se separa claramente de los demás Entiminae estudiados, ocupando una posición posiblemente basal dentro del grupo. Se proponen algunos caracteres diagnósticos para Laparocerini: presencia de mandíbulas con prolongación dehiscente (o su cicatriz), piezas bucales fanerognatas, escapo antenal largo, ojos y escrobas no dorsales, sutura entre el primer y segundo ventrito sinuosa al medio, éste tan largo como el tercero y cuarto reunidos; fémures sin dientes, tibias mucronadas con cestilla abierta, uñas soldadas y esternito VIII masculino completamente membranoso y provisto de un pequeño espículo relicto; en la larva coinciden las antenas de base oval con sensilo en forma de almohadilla y una mala con cinco setas en su cara ventral; la pupa carece de setas mandibulares. En función de estos y otros caracteres, se discuten los demás géneros atribuidos a Laparocerini, corroborando las exclusiones hechas por otros autores recientemente, y proponiendo la exclusión de Merimnetes, Neomerimnetes y Cyrtozemia. Quedan pendientes de confirmar si son Laparocerini dos géneros africanos: Asmaratrox y Straticus. Finalmente se discute en contexto biogeográfico la conveniencia de desglosar Laparocerus en una quincena de géneros independientes, o de mantenerlo unificado como un único género con varios subgéneros.