New combinations and synonymies in the weevil genus Lyterius Schnherr (Coleoptera, Curculionidae), with a conspectus of historical works on Daldorffs Sumatran beetles

In preparation for a future taxonomic revision, we explore provenance, collectors, original owners and current repositories of the type material for three available genus-group names, Lyterius Schnherr, 1844, Barisoma Motschulsky, 1863 and Plaxes Pascoe, 1885, which have been applied to a group of small, relatively flat weevils associated with Pandanaceae. Lectotypes are designated for Rhynchaenus musculus Fabricius, 1802 and Plaxes impar Pascoe, 1885. The lectotype of Rh. musculus is designated as neotype for Curculio abdominalis Weber, 1801, making the species names objective synonyms (reestablished synonymy), with C. abdominalis having date priority. The names Barisoma Motschulsky and Plaxes are placed in synonymy with Lyterius (new synonymies). Five valid species names are recognised in Lyterius, L. abdominalis (Weber), L. dispar (Faust, 1896) new combination, L. impar (Pascoe) new combination, L. instabilis Boheman, 1844 and L. pandanicola (Motschulsky, 1863) new combination. We also provide an overview of the early descriptive works on Sumatran beetles collected by Daldorff and their original owners.

Museomics unveil systematics, diversity and evolution of Australian cycad-pollinating weevils

Weevils have been shown to play significant roles in the obligate pollination of Australian cycads. In this study, we apply museomics to produce a first molecular phylogeny estimate of the Australian cycad weevils, allowing an assessment of their monophyly, placement and relationships. Divergence dating suggests that the Australian cycad weevils originated from the Late Oligocene to the Middle Miocene and that the main radiation of the cycad-pollinating groups occurred from the Middle to the Late Miocene, which is congruent with the diversification of the Australian cycads, thus refuting any notion of an ancient ciophilous system in Australia. Taxonomic studies reveal the existence of 19 Australian cycad weevil species and that their associations with their hosts are mostly non-species-specific. Co-speciation analysis shows no extensive co-speciation events having occurred in the ciophilous system of Australian cycads. The distribution pattern suggests that geographical factors, rather than diversifying coevolution, constitute the overriding process shaping the Australian cycad weevil diversity. The synchronous radiation of cycads and weevil pollinators is suggested to be a result of the post-Oligocene diversification common in Australian organisms.

Mitogenomics and phylogenetics of twelve species of African Saturniidae (Lepidoptera)

African Saturniidae (Lepidoptera) include numerous species consumed at the caterpillar stage throughout the continent, and their importance to local communities as a source of nutrition and seasonal income cannot be overestimated. However, baseline genetic data with utility for the characterization of their diversity, phylogeography and phylogenetic relationships have remained scarce compared to their Asian counterparts. To bridge this gap, we sequenced the mitochondrial genomes of 12 species found in southern Africa for comparative mitogenomics and phylogenetic reconstruction of the family, including the first representatives of the tribes Eochroini and Micragonini. Mitochondrial gene content and organization were conserved across all Saturniidae included in the analyses. The phylogenetic positions of the 12 species were assessed in the context of publicly available mitogenomes using Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood (ML) methods. The monophyly of the tribes Saturniini, Attacini, Bunaeini and Micragonini, the sister relationship between Saturniini and Attacini, and the placement of Eochroa trimenii and Rhodinia fugax in the tribes Eochroini and Attacini, respectively, were strongly supported. These results contribute to significantly expanding genetic data available for African Saturniidae and allow for the development of new mitochondrial markers in future studies.

Undarobius, a new genus of cavernicolous weevils (Curculionidae: Entiminae: Leptopiini) from the Undara Lava Caves in north-eastern Australia, with an overview of anophthalmic and microphthalmic Australian Curculionidae

Undarobius gen. n., a new genus of cavernicolous weevils with two new species, U. howarthi sp. n. and U. irvini sp. n., is described from the Undara Lava Cave system in north-eastern Queensland, Australia. These are the first cavernicolous weevils to be described from Australia, and U. howarthi is a new addition to the rich arthropod fauna of Bayliss Cave. Undarobius weevils are relatively large in size (4.05.5 mm long), anophthalmic and apterous with a robust, flattened body and long legs. The genus has affinities with Leptopiini, but its placement in the tribe is uncertain. We also provide a list of the known anophthalmic and microphthalmic weevils in Australia, spanning 65 species classified in 20 genera, eight tribes and about seven subfamilies and found in diverse hypogean habitats, mainly leaf litter but also soil, beach sand, subterranean aquifers and mosses.

Phylogenomic Data Yield New and Robust Insights into the Phylogeny and Evolution of Weevils

The phylogeny and evolution of weevils (the beetle superfamily Curculionoidea) has been extensively studied, but many relationships, especially in the large family Curculionidae (true weevils; > 50,000 species), remain uncertain. We used phylogenomic methods to obtain DNA sequences from 522 protein-coding genes for representatives of all families of weevils and all subfamilies of Curculionidae. Most of our phylogenomic results had strong statistical support, and the inferred relationships were generally congruent with those reported in previous studies, but with some interesting exceptions. Notably, the backbone relationships of the weevil phylogeny were consistently strongly supported, and the former Nemonychidae (pine flower snout beetles) were polyphyletic, with the subfamily Cimberidinae (here elevated to Cimberididae) placed as sister group of all other weevils. The clade comprising the sister families Brentidae (straight-snouted weevils) and Curculionidae was maximally supported and the composition of both families was firmly established. The contributions of substitution modeling, codon usage and/or mutational bias to differences between trees reconstructed from amino acid and nucleotide sequences were explored. A reconstructed timetree for weevils is consistent with a Mesozoic radiation of gymnosperm-associated taxa to form most extant families and diversification of Curculionidae alongside flowering plants-first monocots, then other groups-beginning in the Cretaceous.

Imaging of Jurassic fossils from the Talbragar Fish Bed using fluorescence, photoluminescence, and elemental and mineralogical mapping

The Talbragar Fish Bed is one of Australia's most important Jurassic deposits for freshwater fishes, land plants and aquatic and terrestrial insects. The site has yielded many well preserved fossils, which has led to the formal description of numerous new species and higher taxa. The excellent preservation of many fossils has allowed detailed anatomical studies, e.g. of the early teleost fish Cavenderichthys talbragarensis (Woodward, 1895). Here we report on the fluorescent characteristics and mineral composition of a range of Talbragar fossils. Most specimens fluoresce under ultraviolet, blue and green light. Elemental and mineralogical analyses revealed that the Talbragar fossils consist predominantly of quartz (SiO2), a mineral that is likely to account for the observed fluorescence, with trace kaolinite (Al2Si2O5(OH)4) in some of the fish fossils. Rock matrices are predominantly composed of quartz and goethite (FeO(OH)). Closer inspection of a plant leaf (Pentoxylon australicum White, 1981) establishes fluorescence as a useful tool for the visualisation of anatomical details that are difficult to see under normal light conditions.

The first elateroid beetles (Coleoptera: Polyphaga: Elateroidea) from the Upper Jurassic of Australia

The first elateroid fossils from the Upper Jurassic Talbragar Fish Bed in Australia are described and illustrated. Wongaroo amplipectorale gen. et sp. n., based on two specimens, is placed in the family Cerophytidae due to its convex, posteriorly weakly angled and laterally carinate pronotum obscuring the head in dorsal view, its relatively long, pointed elytra and slender legs, its 9-striate elytra with deep basal pits and the absence of metacoxal plates. Beattieellus jurassicus gen. et sp. n., described from one specimen, possesses the acutely angled pronotum without a carina on the posterolateral angles and the ventral click apparatus typical of Eucnemidae and is classified in this family. Assignment of it to a eucnemid subfamily is impossible because of the insufficient preservation of relevant characters in the fossil. Four other elateroid fossils, possibly representing eucnemids and elaterids, are illustrated and briefly described but not named, due to their insufficient preservation. These fossils represent the first of their kind in Australia and in the Southern Hemisphere, and Beattieellus is also the oldest eucnemid fossil known and extends the fossil record of Eucnemidae into the Upper Jurassic. The discovery of elateroid fossils in the Talbragar Fish Bed adds to the coleopteran diversity of this ancient lake ecosystem, indicating that it was well wooded and provided suitable habitats of rotten wood for the development of the larvae of these taxa.

Afrophloeus, a new genus of African weevils of the tribe Embrithini (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae), with description of a new species and notes on the composition of Embrithini

A new genus, Afrophloeus gen. n., is described for three South African weevil species assigned to the tribe Embrithini Marshall: Trachyphloeus spathulatus Boheman (type species), T. squamifer Boheman and Afrophloeus dilaticornis sp. n. Afrophloeus squamifer has been introduced to Australia in 1992 and become an agricultural pest in South Australia in recent years. All three species are illustrated and keyed. The concept and composition of Embrithini is discussed and revised. Thirteen genera are newly transferred to Embrithini: Bryochaeta Pascoe, Cosmorhinus Schoenherr, Cycliscus Schoenherr, Glyptosomus Schoenherr, Porpacus Schoenherr and Syntaphocerus J. Thomson from the tribe Oosomini Lacordaire and Bicodes Marshall, Goniorhinus Faust, Holorygma Marshall, Lecanophora Aurivillius, Neobicodes Hustache, Sympiezorhynchus Schoenherr and Zeugorygma Marshall from the tribe Myorhinini Marseul. Two genera are excluded from Embrithini, Epibrithus Marshall and Rhyncholobus Gahan, left without tribal assignment in Entiminae. In its revised concept the tribe Embrithini includes 67 genera of African Entiminae.

Molecular systematics and evolution in an African cycad-weevil interaction: Amorphocerini (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Molytinae) weevils on Encephalartos

Weevils in the tribe Amorphocerini have been implicated in pollination of Encephalartos species in southern Africa. The services they render these plants and the unique attributes of the cycad-weevil interaction make them important from both conservation and evolutionary standpoints. Oberprieler [Oberprieler, R.G., 1996. Systematics and evolution of the tribe Amorphocerini, with a review of the cycad weevils of the world. Ph.D. dissertation, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa], using morphological characters, proposed a tentative hypothesis of relationships among the Amorphocerini which is tested here using DNA sequence data. Sequences from one mitochondrial and three nuclear genes were used to infer phylogenetic relationships, levels of sequence divergence, evolution of host associations, and patterns of speciation in this tribe. The results are reasonably consistent with the morphological hypothesis of relationships and species concepts, though important differences are observed, particularly in relationships among a Porthetes hispidus Boheman species group, which is indicated to have experienced recent divergences. In general, low levels of sequence divergence among species within two of the three genera indicate a recent radiation of this tribe onto African cycads, thus while cycad-insect interactions have often been considered ancient this may not be the case for some extant interactions. A complex pattern of host shifts onto both closely related and more distantly related hosts is suggested.