Morphological and Molecular Perspectives on the Phylogeny, Evolution, and Classification of Weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea): Proceedings from the 2016 International Weevil Meeting

Abstract

Abstract:The 2016 International Weevil Meeting was held immediately after the International Congress of Entomology (ICE). It built on the topics and content of the 2016 ICE weevil symposium Phylogeny and Evolution of Weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea): A Symposium in Honor of Dr. Guillermo "Willy" Kuschel. Beyond catalyzing research and collaboration, the meeting was intended to serve as a forum for identifying priorities and goals for those who study weevils. The meeting consisted of 46 invited and contributed lectures, discussion sessions and introductory remarks presented by 23 speakers along with eight contributed research posters. These were organized into three convened sessions, each lasting one day: (1) weevil morphology; (2) weevil fossils, biogeography and host/habitat associations; and (3) molecular phylogenetics and classification of weevils. Some of the topics covered included the 1K Weevils Project, major morphological character systems of adult and larval weevils, weevil morphological terminology, prospects for future morphological character discovery, phylogenetic analysis of morphological character data, the current status of weevil molecular phylogenetics and evolution, resources available for phylogenetic and comparative genomic studies of weevils, the weevil fossil record, weevil biogeography and evolution, weevil host plants, evolutionary development of the weevil rostrum, resources available for weevil identification and the current status of and challenges in weevil classification.

Phylogenomics illuminates the phylogeny of flower weevils (Curculioninae) and reveals ten independent origins of brood-site pollination mutualism in true weevils

“…The vast majority of weevil lineages engaged in broodsite pollination are currently classified in the flower weevil subfamily Curculioninae, a globally distributed group of predominantly seed-feeders with about 4500 described species in 350 genera (table 1) [12,[30][31][32]. However, the classification of the subfamily into natural groups is inconsistent and controversial, and none of the molecular phylogenetic studies of weevils conducted to date have produced a robust and consistent phylogenetic hypothesis nor used a dense enough sampling of Curculioninae to elucidate the relationships among the flower weevils [15,[33][34][35][36][37]. Curculioninae in the current concept [32] are frequently recovered as a polyphyletic group with high statistical support [15,[35][36][37][38], their relationships with other curculionid subfamilies in the CCCMS clade (Conoderinae, Cossoninae, Curculioninae, Molytinae and Scolytinae [37]) are not yet resolved and no morphological characters have been identified as synapomorphies for the Curculioninae.…”

Evaluating insect-host interactions as a driver of species divergence in palm flower weevils

“…Palms in the genus Syagrus, one of the closest relatives of the coconut 26,27 , produce large inflorescences that are visited by dozens of insect species [28][29][30][31][32] . The most abundant flower visitors of these Neotropical palms are specialized beetles in the family Curculionidae, one of the most diverse insect taxa 33 . We recently described the community of insects associated with the seasonally dry forest palm Syagrus coronata, showing that many weevil species are broadly distributed throughout the plant geographical range 31 .…”

Status of knowledge of the broad-nosed weevils of Colombia (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Entiminae)

“…Most tribes are limited to particular biogeographic regions of the world (Marvaldi et al 2014). Their distributions, in general, are more a reflection of habitat rather than host plant preferences (Anderson 1993(Anderson , 2018Marvaldi et al 2014). The wide range of plants they feed on, paired with the strong association of species to particular habitats and geographic regions (e.g.…”