Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Type: Article
Published: 2021-11-09
Page range: 40-54
Abstract views: 460
PDF downloaded: 34

Contribution to morphology, biology and distribution of Mecolenus wahlbergi Schoenherr, 1847, a relict African apionine weevil (Coleoptera: Brentidae: Apioninae)

Museum of Natural History, University of Wrocław, Sienkiewicza 21, 50-335 Wrocław, Poland
Centre for Functional Biodiversity and Discipline of Geography, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus, PB X54001, Durban 4000, South Africa
Coleoptera Curculionoidea Mecolenini taxonomy redescription Cryptocarya latifolia host plant Lauraceae distribution South Africa

Abstract

Mecolenus wahlbergi Schoenherr, the sole member of the basal apionine tribe Mecolenini and one of the least known South African weevils, was re-discovered at a new locality at Umtamvuna River separating KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape provinces. It was found feeding on leaves of the Broad-leaved Wild-quince Cryptocarya latifolia Sond. (Lauraceae), which is the first record on the biology of this species. The distribution of M. wahlbergi is summarized and mapped, including unpublished records based primarily on the specimens deposited at the Durban Natural Science Museum. Concordance between the distribution of the weevil and its putative host C. latifolia is discussed. The adult morphology of M. wahlbergi is re-described and illustrated.

 

References

  1. Alonso-Zarazaga, M.A. (1983) Studies on Ethiopian Apionidae (Coleoptera). 1. Comments on the genus Apiomorphus Wagner, 1911, with description of a new South African species. Journal of the Entomological Society of Southern Africa, 46 (2), 241–247.
    Alonso-Zarazaga, M.A. (1984) Studies on Ethiopian Apionidae (Coleoptera). 2. Afrotibicina stygia gen. and sp. nov. and biological notes on the tribe Tanaonini. Journal of the Entomological Society of Southern Africa, 47 (2), 203–209.
    Alonso-Zarazaga, M.A. (1990) Revision of the supraspecific taxa in the Palaearctic Apionidae Schoenherr, 1823 (Coleoptera, Curculionoidea). 2. Subfamily Apioninae Schoenherr, 1823: introduction, keys and descriptions. Graellsia, 46, 19–156.
    Alonso-Zarazaga, M.A. (2007) On terminology in Curculionoidea (Coleoptera). Boletín de la Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa, 40, 210.
    Alonso-Zarazaga, M.A., Barrios, H., Borovec, R., Bouchard, P., Caldara, R., Colonnelli, E., Gültekin, L., Hlaváč, P., Korotyaeev, B.A., Lyal, C.H.C., Machado, A., Meregalli, M., Pierotti, H., Ren, L., Sánchez-Ruiz, M., Sforzi, A., Silfverberg, H., Skuhrovec, J., Trýzna, M., Velázquez de Castro, A.J. & Yunakov, N.N. (2017) Cooperative Catalogue of Palaearctic Coleoptera Curculionoidea. Monografias electrónicas S.E.A, 8, 1–729. Available from: http://www.sea-entomologia.org (accessed 2 November 2017)
    Alonso-Zarazaga, M.A. & Lyal, C.H.C. (1999) A World Catalogue of Families and Genera of Curculionoidea (Insecta: Coleoptera) (Excepting Scolytidae and Platypodidae). Entomopraxis, Barcelona, 315 pp.
    Alonso-Zarazaga, M.A. & Wanat, M. (2014) 3.6.3. Apioninae Schoenherr, 1823. In: Leschen, R.A.B. & Beutel, R.G. (Eds.), Handbook of Zoology. Arthropoda: Insecta: Coleoptera, Beetles. Vol. 3. Morphology and Systematics (Phytophaga). Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/Boston, pp. 395–415.
    Balfour-Browne, J. (1944) Setapion gen. n. with descriptions of two new species (Col., Curculionidae). Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London, New Series, 13 (7–8), 71–73. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3113.1944.tb00789.x
    Balfour-Browne, J. (1945) A contribution to the study of the fauna of Ukerewe Island, Victoria Nyanza (Col.: Curculionidae; Apioninae). Journal of the East Africa Natural History Society, 18 (1–2), 55–60.
    Billberg, G.J. (1820) Enumeratio insectorum in museo Gust. Joh. Billberg. Typis Gadelianis, Stockholm, (2) + 138 pp. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.49763
    Bouchard, P., Bousquet, Y., Davies, A.E., Alonso-Zarazaga, M.A., Lawrence, J.F., Lyal, C.H.C., Newton, A.F., Reid, C.A.M., Schmitt, M., Ślipiński, S.A. & Smith, A.B.T. (2011) Family-group names in Coleoptera (Insecta). ZooKeys, 88, 1–972. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.88.807
    Boon, R. (2010) Pooley’s Trees of Eastern South Africa—A Complete Guide. Flora & Fauna Publications Trust, Durban, 624 pp.
    Crowson, R.A. (1955) The Natural Classification of the Families of Coleoptera. N. Lloyd, London, 187 pp. [reprint 1967] https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.en.05.010160.000551
    Crowson, R.A. (1960) The phylogeny of Coleoptera. Annual Review of Entomology, 5, 111–134.
    Crowson, R.A. (1981) The Biology of the Coleoptera. Academic Press, New York, xii + 802 pp.
    Fedorenko, D.N. (2009) Evolution of the beetle hind wing, with special reference to folding (Insecta, Coleoptera). Pensoft, Sofia-Moscow, 336 pp.
    Kissinger, D.G. (1968) Curculionidae subfamily Apioninae of North and Central America, with reviews of the world genera of Apioninae and world subgenera of Apion Herbst (Coleoptera). Taxonomic Publications, South Lancaster, Massachusetts, 559 pp.
    Kuschel, G. (1995) A phylogenetic classification of Curculionoidea to families and subfamilies. Memoir of the Entomological Society of Washington, 14, 5–33.
    Legalov, A.A. (2018) Annotated key to weevils of the world. Part 1. Families Nemonychidae, Anthribidae, Belidae, Ithyceridae, Rhynchitidae, Brachyceridae and Brentidae. Ukrainian Journal of Ecology, 8 (1), 780–831. https://doi.org/10.15421/2018_280
    Marvaldi, A.E. & Morrone J.J. (2000) Phylogenetic systematics of weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea): A reappraisal based on larval and adult morphology. Insect Systematics and Evolution, 31, 43–58. https://doi.org/10.1163/187631200X00309
    Marvaldi, A.E., Sequeira, A.S., O’Brien, C.W. & Farrell, B.D. (2002) Molecular and morphological phylogenetics of weevils (Coleoptera, Curculionoidea): do niche shifts accompany diversification? Systematic Biology, 51, 761–785. https://doi.org/10.1080/10635150290102465
    McKenna, D.D. Sequeira, A.S., Marvaldi, A.E. & Farrell, B.D. (2009) Temporal lags and overlap in the diversification of weevils and flowering plants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106 (17), 7083–7088. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0810618106
    Morimoto, K. (1976) Notes on the family characters of Apionidae and Brentidae, with a key to the related families. Kontyû, 44 (4), 469–476.
    Oberprieler, R.G. (2000) The larvae of the weevil tribe Eurhynchini and the phylogeny of the Brentidae (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea). Invertebrate Taxonomy, 14, 755–770. https://doi.org/10.1071/IT00032
    Oberprieler, R.G., Marvaldi, A.E. & Anderson, R.S. (2007) Weevils, weevils, weevils everywhere. Zootaxa, 1668 (1), 491–520. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.1668.1.24
    Padayachee, A.L. & Procheş, Ş. (2016) Patterns in the diversity and endemism of extant Eocene age lineages across southern Africa. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 117, 482–491. https://doi.org/10.1111/bij.12688
    Rohwer, J.G., Rodrigues de Moraes, P.L., Rudolph, B. & van der Werff, H. (2014) A phylogenetic analysis of the Cryptocarya group (Lauraceae), and relationships of Dahlgrenodendron, Sinopora, Triadodaphne, and Yasunia. Phytotaxa, 158 (2), 111–132. https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.158.2.1
    Schoenherr, C.J. (1823) Curculionides. Tabula synoptica familiae Curculionidum. Isis von Oken, 1823, 2, 10, cols. 1132–1146.
    Schoenherr, C.J. (1826) Curculionidum dispositio methodica cum generum characteribus, descriptionibus atque observationibus variis, seu Prodromus ad Synonymiae Insectorum, partem IV. Fridericum Fleischer, Lipsiae, pp. x + (2) + 338. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.9327
    Schoenherr, C.J. (1836) Genera et species curculionidum, cum synonymia hujus familiae. Species novae aut hactenus minus cognitae, descriptionibus a Dom. Leonardo Gyllenhal, C. H. Boheman et entomologis aliis illustratae. Tomus tertius.—Pars secunda. Roret, Parisiis and Fleischer, Lipsiae, pp. (2) + 507–858 + 3 (Corrigenda).
    Schoenherr, C.J. (1847) Mantissa secunda familiae curculionidum seu descriptiones novorum quorundam generum curculionidum. Norstedt et Filii, Holmiae, 86 pp. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.5794
    Shin, S., Clarke, D.J., Lemmon, A.R., Lemmon, E.M., Aitken, A.L., Haddad, S., Farrell, B.D., Marvaldi, A.E., Oberprieler, R.G. & McKenna, D.D. (2018) Phylogenomic Data Yield New and Robust Insights into the Phylogeny and Evolution of Weevils. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 35 (4), 823–836. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msx324
    Wagner, H. (1912) Neue Apioniden aus dem Aethiopischen Faunengebiete. Mémoires de la Société entomologique de Belgique, 19, 33–52, pls. IV–V.
    Wanat, M. (2001) Genera of Australo-Pacific Rhadinocybinae and Myrmacicelinae, with biogeography of the Apionidae (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea) and phylogeny of the Brentidae (s. lato). Mantis, Olsztyn, 432 pp.
    Wanat, M. (2007) Alignment and homology of male terminalia in Curculionoidea and other Coleoptera. Invertebrate Systematics, 21 (2), 147–171. https://doi.org/10.1071/IS05055
    Wanat, M. & Munzinger, J. (2012) Biology of the Apionidae (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea) in New Caledonia, a preliminary report. Zootaxa, 3554 (1), 59–74. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3554.1.5
    Wanat, M. (2021) New basal taxa of South African Apioninae (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea: Brentidae). Zootaxa, 5035 (1), 1–60. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5035.1.1

  2. Zherikhin, V.V. & Gratshev, V.G. (1995) A comparative study of the hind wing venation of the superfamily Curculionoidea, with phylogenetic implications. In: Pakaluk, J., Ślipiński, S.A. (Eds.), Biology, Phylogeny, and Classification of Coleoptera. Papers Celebrating the 80th Birthday of Roy A. Crowson. Muzeum i Instytut Zoologii PAN, Warszawa, pp. 633–777.