2019/10/23 by Harald Letsch, Michael Balke, Emmanuel F. A. Toussaint +1 · 1 citation
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Coleoptera Taxonomy and Distribution #Coleoptera: Cerambycidae studies #Scarabaeidae Beetle Taxonomy and Biogeography
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/syen.12396
openalex publication_date 2019/10/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Abstract The first dated phylogeny of the weevil subfamily Cryptorhynchinae is presented within a framework of Curculionoidea. The inferred pattern and timing of weevil family relationships are generally congruent with previous studies, but our data are the first to suggest a highly supported sister‐group relationship between Attelabidae and Belidae. Our biogeographical inferences suggest that Cryptorhynchinae s.s. originated in the Late Cretaceous ( c . 86 Ma) in South America. Within the ‘ Acalles group’ and the ‘ Cryptorhynchus group’, several independent dispersal events to the Western Palaearctic via the Nearctic occurred in the Late Cretaceous and Early Paleogene. A second southern route via Antarctica may have facilitated the colonization of Australia in the Late Cretaceous ( c . 82 Ma), where a diverse Indo‐Australian clade probably emerged c . 73 Ma. In the Early Eocene ( c . 50–55 Ma), several clades independently dispersed from Australia to proto‐New Guinea, i.e. the tribe Arachnopodini s.l., the ‘ Rhynchodes group’ and the genus Trigonopterus . New Zealand was first colonized in the Late Palaeocene ( c . 60 Ma). Divergence time estimations and biogeographical reconstructions indicate that the colonization of New Guinea is older than expected from current geological reconstructions of the region.