{"title":"Integrated taxonomy, biology and biogeography of the Afrotropical genus Xyloctonus (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Scolytinae)","authors":"B. Jordal","doi":"10.3897/dez.71.116185","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The peculiar Afrotropical bark beetle genus Xyloctonus Eichhoff, 1872 is revised and its biology described. Several unusual morphological features reflect adaptations to predator avoidance as they are highly exposed during mating externally on tree trunks and branches. Observations invariably indicate that males and females abandon the nest under bark at an early stage of progeny, the males already before eggs hatch, potentially engaging in subsequent additional matings. Most species have a clear preference for host plants in the plant family Sapotaceae. Although the genus is broadly distributed in forested parts of Africa, Madagascar and Mauritius, most species are found in the eastern part of this range. A Bayesian biogeographical analysis revealed a possible origin of the genus in Madagascar in the early Eocene, with subsequent colonisation of the southern African region in late Eocene. This contrasts with the closely-related xyloctonine genus Ctonoxylon Hagedorn, 1910, which is of western Congolian ancestry and more recently reached Madagascar multiple times during late Miocene. Two new species are described: Xyloctonus magnussp. nov. from Madagascar and X. genierisp. nov. from Burkina Faso. Synonyms are proposed for X. subcostatus Eggers, 1939 (= X. striatus Eggers, 1939) and X. scolytoides Eichhoff, 1872 (= X. latus Eggers, 1922). Identification to species is provided in a key illustrated with photographs of most species.","PeriodicalId":50592,"journal":{"name":"Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3897/dez.71.116185","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ENTOMOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The peculiar Afrotropical bark beetle genus Xyloctonus Eichhoff, 1872 is revised and its biology described. Several unusual morphological features reflect adaptations to predator avoidance as they are highly exposed during mating externally on tree trunks and branches. Observations invariably indicate that males and females abandon the nest under bark at an early stage of progeny, the males already before eggs hatch, potentially engaging in subsequent additional matings. Most species have a clear preference for host plants in the plant family Sapotaceae. Although the genus is broadly distributed in forested parts of Africa, Madagascar and Mauritius, most species are found in the eastern part of this range. A Bayesian biogeographical analysis revealed a possible origin of the genus in Madagascar in the early Eocene, with subsequent colonisation of the southern African region in late Eocene. This contrasts with the closely-related xyloctonine genus Ctonoxylon Hagedorn, 1910, which is of western Congolian ancestry and more recently reached Madagascar multiple times during late Miocene. Two new species are described: Xyloctonus magnussp. nov. from Madagascar and X. genierisp. nov. from Burkina Faso. Synonyms are proposed for X. subcostatus Eggers, 1939 (= X. striatus Eggers, 1939) and X. scolytoides Eichhoff, 1872 (= X. latus Eggers, 1922). Identification to species is provided in a key illustrated with photographs of most species.
期刊介绍:
Founded in 1857 as Berliner Entomologische Zeitschrift, Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift is one of the World''s oldest international journals of systematic entomology. It publishes original research papers in English on the systematics, taxonomy, phylogeny, comparative morphology, and biogeography of insects. Other arthropods are also considered where of relevance to the biology of insects. The geographical scope of the journal is worldwide.
Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift (DEZ) is dedicated to provide an open access, high-quality forum to contribute to the documentation of insect species, their distribution, their properties, and their phylogenetic relationships. All submitted manuscripts are subject to peer-review by the leading specialists for the respective topic. The journal is published in open access high-resolution PDF, semantically enriched HTML and machine-readable XML versions.