Evolutionary trends in derelomine flower weevils (Coleoptera : Curculionidae): from associations to homology
Nico M. Franz A C and Roberta M. Valente BA Department of Entomology, Comstock Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA.
B Departamento de Biologia, Centro de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Pará, Rua Augusto Corrêa 1, 66075-110, Belém-PA, Brazil.
C Corresponding author. Email: nmf2@cornell.edu
Invertebrate Systematics 19(6) 499-530 https://doi.org/10.1071/IS05026
Submitted: 14 June 2005 Accepted: 14 November 2005 Published: 16 January 2006
Abstract
The host-plant associations and life histories of weevils in the pantropical tribe Derelomini are reviewed in light of new phylogenetic insights. The most immediate derelomine ancestor likely had a ‘special association’ with the inflorescences of palms (Arecaceae) involving pollination and oviposition into dispensable male flowers. Case studies of select genus groups show multiple historical forces driving their diversification. In the South and Central American genus Celetes, abundant host shifts are important, though clearly not enough to account for the existence of all species. Females of the Neotropical genus Staminodeus have remarkable morphogical and behavioural modifications for exploiting the staminodes of cyclanth (Cyclanthaceae) inflorescences. The evolution of males in this genus is mostly explained by sexual selection. Cyclanthura illustrates the potential of the weevils for colonising hosts with widely divergent inflorescence biologies, including arums (Araceae) in the genus Anthurium. Members of the Ganglionus–Systenotelus clade, in turn, are exclusively associated with the cyclanth genus Carludovica. A phylogenetic trend in this group to attack the plants’ seeds has led to a series of counteracting transformations in inflorescence morphology. Overall there were at least three independent secondary host shifts to dicots, including one in the taxonomically complex genus Phyllotrox. The results suggest that in this particular tribe of weevils, focusing on the homology of specific biological traits in individual lineages is more likely to produce new knowledge than a formalistic, large-scale approach.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Rolf Oberprieler and Catherine Duckett, the organisers of the Phytophaga Symposium at the XXII International Congress of Entomology (August 2004, Brisbane, Australia), for the opportunity to present the paper motivating this publication. We are also grateful to the Editor for her interest in publishing papers related to the Phytophaga Symposium. The first author thanks Charles O’Brien and Robert Anderson for invaluable support in terms of facilitating access to specimens and other information; Rolf Oberprieler for insightful views about weevil evolution; and Quentin Wheeler for helpful advice on a range of topics. Funding was obtained in part through a Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (DEB-0206093, with Bryan Danforth) from the National Science Foundation. The second author thanks Sergio Vanin for scientific mentoring; and financial support was provided by the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi as well as the Programa Norte de Pesquisa e Pós-graduação (PNOPG), through the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Governo do Brasil.
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