Review of Cycadophila Xu, Tang & Skelley (Coleoptera: Erotylidae: Pharaxonothinae) inhabiting Cycas (Cycadaceae) in Asia, with descriptions of a new subgenus and thirteen new species
Author
Skelley, Paul
Author
Xu, Guang
Author
Tang, William
Author
Lindström, Anders J.
Author
Marler, Thomas
Author
Khuraijam, Jibankumar Singh
Author
Singh, Rita
Author
Rich, Stephen
text
Zootaxa
2017
4267
1
1
63
journal article
33061
10.5281/zenodo.575641
810b55e4-b8ba-4368-bf9c-8517ee33e7d0
1175-5326
575641
8920893E-E5F8-482A-A60D-7A248D2B0DCB
Cycadophila
(
Cycadophila
) Xu, Tang, Skelley
C.
(
C.
)
lata
species group
C.
(
C.
)
debaonica
Xu, Tang & Skelley
*
C.
(
C.
)
collina
Skelley, Xu & Tang
,
n. sp.
C.
(
C.
)
lata
(Grouvelle)
C.
(
C.
)
fupingensis
species group
C.
(
C.
)
fupingensis
Skelley, Tang & Xu
C.
(
C.
)
nigra
species group
C.
(
C.
)
abyssa
Skelley, Xu & Tang
,
n. sp.
C.
(
C.
)
convexa
Skelley, Xu & Tang
,
n. sp.
C.
(
C.
)
cyclochasma
Skelley, Xu & Tang
,
n. sp.
C.
(
C.
)
discimaculata
(Mader)
C.
(
C.
)
eurynota
Skelley, Xu & Tang
,
n. sp.
C.
(
C.
)
intermedia
(Chûjô)
C.
(
C.
)
nigra
(Gorham)
C.
(
C.
)
torquata
Skelley, Xu & Tang
,
n. sp.
C.
(
C.
)
vittata
(Arrow)
C.
(
C.
)
yunnanensis
(Grouvelle)
C.
(
C.
)
papua
species group
C.
(
C.
)
papua
Skelley, Xu & Tang
,
n. sp.
C.
(
C.
)
samara
Skelley, Xu & Tang
,
n. sp.
Cycadophila
(
Strobilophila
)
Skelley, Xu & Tang
, n. sg.
C.
(
S.
)
assamensis
Skelley, Xu & Tang
,
n. sp.
C.
(
S.
)
hiepi
Skelley, Xu & Tang
,
n. sp.
C.
(
S
.)
kwaiensis
Skelley, Xu & Tang
,
n. sp.
C.
(
S.
)
tansachai
Skelley, Xu & Tang
,
n. sp.
*
C.
(
S.
)
yangi
Skelley, Xu & Tang
,
n. sp.
The PCR product of the 16S rRNA gene had a length of 311–313 bp. The alignment matrix was 317 bp long, with 5 gaps, 218 conserved sites, 96 variable sites, 67 parsimony-informative sites and 29 singleton sites. The NJ, MP and ML trees derived from DNA analyses were largely congruent with essentially the same terminal clades and no rearrangement of clades relative to one another. Only the one derived from ML is presented here (
Fig. 1
). This tree is similar to those presented by
Xu
et al.
(2015)
, but is based on a larger sample of populations and species of
Cycadophila
and includes an additional (undescribed) taxon within the subfamily
Pharaxonothinae
as an outgroup. The same clades and branching patterns are present in our tree as in
Xu
et al.
(2015)
, except that no members of the
Strobilophila
clade and
papua
clade were analyzed in the previous study. In the tree presented here
Cycadophila
+
Pharaxonotha
are a monophyletic grouping considered together in relation to the other members of the
Pharaxonothinae
sampled (bootstrap support = 100). Bootstrap support for the
Pharaxonotha
(
sensu stricto
) clade is also strong (>90). Within this New World clade
P. kirschii
is sister to
P. confusa
,
P. portophylla
and
P. floridana
.
With the addition of more populations and taxa to the analysis the genus
Cycadophila
remains monophyletic, although bootstrap support is relatively weak (<40). Within the subgenus
Cycadophila
this analysis recovered four strongly supported (bootstrap>90) clades: 1) the
lata
species group (only
C. debaonica
and
C. collina
sampled); 2) the
nigra
species group (only
C. yunnanensis
and
C. nigra
sampled); 3) the
fupingensis
species group (consisting of a single species
C. fupingensis
); and 4) the
papua
species group (only
C. samara
sampled). The relationships among these four species groups remains unclear, since bootstrap support at nodes is relatively low (<40). For the subgenus
Strobilophila
, six of seven populations (three of four species) analyzed form a monophyletic group with one outlier [see more discussion below under Key to larvae and Remarks for
C
. (
S
).
yangi
]. Although bootstrap support for many nodes within the genus
Cycadophila
clade may be considered weak, our molecular data support our morphological hypotheses of relationships for this genus. Together molecular and morphological data support our concept of the genus
Cycadophila
as a monophyletic lineage.