Systematics of Longhorned Beetles (Insecta: Coleoptera: Cerambycidae)

• Main Author: Nearns, Eugenio Hernán
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: UNM Digital Repository 2013
• Subjects: phylogeny; taxonomy; morphology; Blanchard; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/biol_etds/86; https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1085&context=biol_etds

The longhorned wood boring beetles (Insecta: Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) are a diverse and economically important group of insects. With an estimated 4,000 genera and more than 35,000 described species, the Cerambycidae comprise one of the largest beetle families. Cerambycid beetles are found on all continents except Antarctica, from sea level to montane sites as high as 4000 m. Cerambycids are among the most serious wood boring pest species globally, affecting many agricultural crops, ornamental trees, and lumber products, causing millions of dollars in damage each year. Despite their economic importance and biological diversity, relatively little is known of cerambycid beetle ecology, behavior, or phylogenetic relationships. A better understanding of all of these factors would greatly contribute to conservation of endangered species, and in managing invasive species that could become pests in their new countries and habitats. In Chapter 1, I present the phylogenetic relationships among the tribes and genera of longhorned beetle subfamilies Prioninae Latreille and Parandrinae Blanchard (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) inferred from DNA sequence data. Four genes (12S rRNA, 28S rRNA, cytochrome oxidase I, and histone III) were sequenced for 60 taxa representing the outgroup cerambycoid family Disteniidae Thomson and four cerambycid subfamilies: Cerambycinae Latreille, Lamiinae Latreille, Lepturinae Latreille, and Spondylidinae Audinet-Serville. The monophyly of Prioninae was tested using parsimony and Bayesian analyses. Prioninae (including Parandrinae and the cerambycine genus Plectogaster) was recovered as a monophyletic group in the Bayesian analysis. In the parsimony analysis, Prioninae (including Parandrinae but excluding two prionine genera: Aesa and Sarmydus) was also recovered as a monophyletic group. Both analyses recovered the subfamilies Lamiinae, Lepturinae, and Spondylidinae as monophyletic groups, as well as the Parandrinae + Prioninae clade as sister to Cerambycinae. Relationships among prionine tribes had ...