Adriana E. Marvaldi

Phylogeny of the Coleoptera Based on Morphological Characters of Adults and Larvae

Abstract. In order to infer phylogenetic relationships within the extraordinarily speciesrich order Coleoptera, a cladistic analysis is performed, in which 516 adult and larval morphological characters are scored for 359 beetle taxa, representing 314 families or subfamilies plus seven outgroup taxa representing seven holometabolan orders. Many morphological features are discussed at length with accompanying illustrations, and an attempt is made to homologize these and employ a uniform set of terms throughout the order. The resulting data matrix is analyzed using the parsimony ratchet in conjunction with implied weighting. The resulting most parsimonious tree found the order Strepsiptera to be sister to Coleoptera, each of the four coleopteran suborders to be monophyletic and subordinal relationships as follows: (Archostemata + Adephaga) + (Myxophaga + Polyphaga), but without significant support for either clade. The topology of the remainder of the tree is consistent with many prior molecular and morphological analyses, with the monophyly of superfamilies Hydrophiloidea (sensu lato), Scarabaeoidea and Curculionoidea and many currently recognized families and subfamilies are well supported, with weaker support for Elateroidea, Cucujiformia and Phytophaga.

An evaluation of methods for modelling distribution of Patagonian insects

Varios estudios han mostrado que el desempeno de los modelos de distribucion puede variar dependiendo de la especie modelizada, el area de estudio o el numero de localidades de presencia utilizadas, sugiriendo que es necesario evaluar cual es la mejor tecnica de modelizacion en cada situacion concreta. En este estudio evaluamos distintas tecnicas de modelizacion para la distribucion de los insectos patagonicos. Hemos aplicado ocho de los metodos mas ampliamente usados (redes neuronales, BIOCLIM, arboles de clasificacion y regresion, DOMAIN, Modelos Aditivos Generalizados, GARP, Modelos Lineares Generalizados y Maxent) a los datos de distribucion de diez especies de insectos patagonicos, comparando su efectividad mediante cinco medidas diferentes. Para evitar el problema de la carencia de datos de ausencia fiables con los que evaluar los modelos, hemos utilizado pseudoausencias seleccionadas al azar fuera de un area poligonal definida por taxonomos expertos. Nuestros analisis muestran diferencias significativas entre los distintos metodos de modelizacion dependiendo de la medida de validacion utilizada. Maxent es el metodo que ofrece mejores resultados para cuatro de las cinco medidas de validacion utilizadas, aunque su precision no difiere de la obtenida con redes neuronales. Cuando se examina la efectividad para cada una de las especies, Maxent resulto tambien uno de los metodos mas fiables, especialmente en el caso de aquellas especies con un pequeno numero de localidades. En conjunto, este estudio identifica cuatro grupos de tecnicas de modelizacion. El de mayor fiabilidad seria el compuesto por Maxent y las redes neuronales, seguido de cerca por DOMAIN. El tercer grupo incluiria GARP, GAM, GLM y CART, mientras que el cuarto estaria formado por BIOCLIM. Aunque estos resultados pueden permitir obtener mejores predicciones de distribucion con capacidad para ser utilizadas en la planificacion de reservas, es necesario ser cauto en su utilizacion debido a la naturaleza provisional de estas simulaciones.

Phylogeny of the Oxycoryninae sensu lato (Coleoptera : Belidae) and evolution of host-plant associations

Phylogenetic relationships among the genera of the subfamily Oxycoryninae and other belids (Curculionoidea) were reconstructed by cladistic analysis using 21 terminals and 98 characters: 62 from imaginal morphology, 33 from larval morphology and three biological characters relating to host plants and larval feeding habits. Terminal taxa represent all extant genera of Oxycoryninae, two genera of each of the three tribes of Belinae plus two outgroup taxa used to root the tree. New information on the larvae and biology of the metrioxenines is used in phylogenetic reconstruction. In accord with the single optimal cladogram obtained, a revised classification of the Oxycoryninae is proposed. The subfamily is classified into three tribes (Oxycorynini, Metrioxenini and Aglycyderini), with the tribe Oxycorynini further classified into three subtribes (Oxycraspedina Marvaldi & Oberprieler, subtr. nov., Oxycorynina and Allocorynina) and the tribe Metrioxenini into two subtribes (Metrioxenina and Afrocorynina ( = Hispodini, syn. nov.)). Larval and adult unambiguous synapomorphies defining each clade are identified. Tracing the evolution of biological traits from the phylogenetic estimate indicates that drastic shifts to phylogenetically distant host plants occurred from the ancestral belid association with conifers. Structural, chemical and/or ecological similarities of the plant organs consumed apparently had a major influence in the colonisation of different plant taxa by this group of weevils.

Key to larvae of the South American subfamilies of weevils (Coleoptera, Curculionoidea)

Los gorgojos (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea) de Sudamerica estan clasificados en siete familias y 28 subfamilias como se muestra a continuacion: Nemonychidae (Rhinorhynchinae), Anthribidae (Anthribinae), Belidae (Belinae y Oxycoryninae), Attelabidae (Attelabinae y Rhynchitinae), Brentidae (Apioninae y Brentinae), Caridae (Carinae) y Curculionidae (Erirhininae, Dryophthorinae, Entiminae, Aterpinae, Gonipterinae, Rhythirrininae, Thecesterninae, Eugnominae, Hyperinae, Curculioninae, Cryptorhynchinae, Mesoptiliinae (= Magdalidinae), Molytinae, Baridinae, Lixinae, Conoderinae (= Zygopinae), Cossoninae, Scolytinae y Platypodinae). Se brinda una clave dicotomica para el estado de larva de Curculionoidea en Sudamerica, para su determinacion a nivel de familias y subfamilias. La clave esta basada sobre caracteres morfologicos externos y se presentan ademas datos de habitos alimentarios

Systematic revision, cladistics and biogeography of the genus Neogutierrezia Martínez (Coleoptera:Scarabaeidae) and its phylogenetic placement in Rutelinae based on structural alignment of 28S rDNA sequences

TheArgentineanendemicgenusNeogutierreziaMartinez,1953(Scarabaeidae:Rutelinae)isrevisedandseven new species are described: N. bicolor Ocampo & Ruiz-Manzanos, sp. nov., N. chelii Ocampo & Ruiz-Manzanos, sp. nov., N. galileoi Ocampo & Ruiz-Manzanos, sp. nov., N. lagosae Ocampo & Ruiz-Manzanos, sp. nov., N. payuniensis Ocampo & Ruiz-Manzanos, sp. nov., N. scutata Ocampo & Ruiz-Manzanos, sp. nov. and N. variabilis Ocampo & Ruiz-Manzanos, sp. nov. Species status is proposed for N. affinis Martinez stat. nov., which was formerly considered as subspecies of N. mirabilis Martinez. The genus Neogutierrezia now includes 10 species distributed in the Monte biogeographic province in Argentina. In order to clarify the systematic placement of the genus Neogutierrezia, a molecular phylogenetic analysis was performed using structurally aligned 28S rDNA sequences (expansion segments D2 and D3) from 23 taxa in Scarabaeoidea, including two representative species of Neogutierrezia. This is the first report of an annotated secondary structure alignment of the D2 and D3 segments of 28S rRNA that spans a wide sample of scarabaeoids, providing a useful homology template for further phylogenetic reconstruction in these and closely related beetles. Results of the molecular parsimony analysis strongly indicate that the genus is closely related to members of the Rutelinae (Scarabaeidae), and thus Neogutierrezia Martinez is transferred from Melolonthinae: Pachydemini to Rutelinae, new placement. A morphological cladistic analysis of the genus was also undertaken, including all the 10 known species in the genus plus two outgroup taxa in Rutelinae, and based on 53 adult characters. The most-parsimonious cladogram provides evidence for the monophyly of the genus, which shows three main clades, distributed in Central Monte and Southern Monte. The adult morphology of the 10 species is described and a key is provided, along with illustrations of the diagnostic characters. The biogeography of species in the genus is discussed.

First records of three species of Oxycraspedus Kuschel (Coleóptera: Belidae) in Argentina and use of a predictive model to compare their potential distribution with the range of their host-plant, Araucaria araucana

Se reportan por primera vez en Argentina las tres especies de Oxycraspedus Kuschel (Belidae: Oxycoryninae) y se anaden a su distribucion en Chile. Estos gorgojos son de interes debido a su asociacion con el pehuen Araucaria araucana, una especie de gran interes en temas de conservacion. Los datos sobre su distribucion son valiosos para proteger la biodiversidad en areas de la Patagonia. La distribucion potencial de Oxycraspedus predicha por un modelo a partir de variables bioclimaticas, es coincidente, como se esperaba, con el rango geografico de su planta huesped, la araucaria