Review of Cycadophila Xu, Tang & Skelley (Coleoptera: Erotylidae: Pharaxonothinae) inhabiting Cycas (Cycadaceae) in Asia, with descriptions of a new subgenus and thirteen new species

Abstract

The genus Cycadophila Xu, Tang & Skelley (Coleoptera: Erotylidae: Pharaxonothinae) associated with Cycas L. (Cycadacaeae) in Asia is reviewed. Strobilophila, new subgenus, with five species is described: Cycadophila (Strobilophila) assamensis new species, C. (S.) hiepi new species, C. (S.) kwaiensis new species, C. (S.) tansachai new species and C. (S.) yangi new species, all associated with Cycas. For the nominate subgenus Cycadophila eight new species are described, Cycadophila (Cycadophila) abyssa new species, C. (C.) collina new species,C. (C.) samara new species, C. (C.) convexa new species, C. (C.) cyclochasma new species, C. (C.) eurynota new species, C. (C.) papua new species, and C. (C.) torquata new species and four new generic combinations are proposed: C. (C.) vittata (Arrow) new combination, C. (C.) discimaculata (Mader) new combination, C. (C.) intermedia (Chûjô) new combination, and C. (C.) lata (Grouvelle) new combination. Only the first three listed species of the nominate subgenus have known associations with Cycas. Species are distinguished on the basis of morphology and/or by analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences. The larva of subgenus Strobilophila is described based on individuals collected together with adults and matched with analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences. Keys to subgenera and species of known adults and larvae are provided.

Current Status, Threats and Conservation Needs of The Endemic Cycas wadei Merrill

“…Cycas species are associated with mutualist pollinator species that exploit the male cones for recruitment [32][33][34]. These C. wadei pollinator populations will be placed under greater threats as the C. wadei population declines or becomes fragmented.…”

Molecular and Morphological Phylogenetic Analyses of New World Cycad Beetles: What They Reveal about Cycad Evolution in the New World

“…Total DNA was extracted from individual beetles, either adults or larvae, using Epicenter Master Complete DNA and RNA Purification Kits (Epicenter Technologies, Madison, WI, USA) following the manufacturer protocols and dissolved in 30 µL H 2 O. The mitochondrial 16S rRNA was amplified using the following primers: 73Forward-AGATAGAAACCARCCTGGCT, 98Forward-CGGTYTRAACTCAGATCATGTA, and 430Reverse-AAGACGAGAAGACCCTATAG [26,28]. Reactions were carried out in 25 µL volumes containing 1 µL DNA, 5 µL 5X buffer, 4 µL of 25 µM MgCl 2 , 1 µL of 10 mM dNTPs, 1 µL of 10 µM of each primer, and 0.2 µL 5 U/µL of Taq polymerase (Promega, Madison, WI, USA).…”

“…For erotylid beetles, two Asian species of Pharaxonothinae that inhabit the genus Cycas were used as outgroups: Cycadophila (C.) debaonica and C. (Strobilophila) tansachai [26,28], GenBank accession numbers KR005715, KY365223, respectively. Multiple-sequence alignments were conducted with CLUSTAL W [43].…”

“…These beetles fall into two distinct and not closely related groups: (1) Weevils of the subtribe Allocorynina (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea: Belidae: Oxycoryninae: Oxycorinini; higher-level classification follows Bouchard et al [22]) associated with Dioon and Zamia; these include the genera Notorhopalotria, Parallocorynus, Protocorynus, and Rhopalotria [8,23] (see Figure 1A-D) and (2) Erotylidae (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea) in the subfamily Pharaxonothinae associated with Ceratozamia, Dioon, Microcycas, and Zamia (Cycadales: Zamiaceae; classification follows Calonje et al [24]); these include the genus Pharaxonotha and an undescribed genus [7,[25][26][27]] (see Figure 1E,F).…”

“…Six species of New World Pharaxonothinae have been described, but many remain undescribed [7,27]. New World forms are closely related to the recently described genus Cycadophila found on the Asian cycad genus Cycas [26,28]. The lack of phylogenetic frameworks for the New World groups of cycad beetles hinders the proper allocation of biological information and host/beetle associations and limits what can be interpreted from them.…”