Abstract
Abstract: Here we examine the taxonomic diversity of the Brazilian Apioninae (Coleoptera: Brentidae) and provide an update based on the literature and through examination of material in primary Brazilian collections. Ten genera and 89 species are valid and we include 30 (25 genera, 5 species) new distribution records. Chrysapion Kissinger, 1968 is first reported in Brazil, restricted to the northeast. Ranges now include the Amazon (three genera and one subgenus) and Atlantic (four genera and one subgenus) forests, the Pantanal (five genera) and Cerrado (three genera). The ranges of several genera now include more than one new biome. An identification key (including images of adults and illustrations of male genitalia) also includes the 10 Brazilian genera of Apioninae for the first time.
Highlights
The subfamily Apioninae (Brentidae sensu latu) comprises a monophyletic group (Alonso-Zarazaga & Wanat 2014; Marvaldi et al 2002; Kuschel 1995; Wanat 2001) of very small beetles (0.75-13.00 mm in length, >95% < 3 mm). This subfamily differs from the other Curculionoidea by the following: a markedly convex to globose, pear-shaped (Apion is Greek for ‘small pear’) body; straight antennae with a compact club that appear geniculate in some Rhadinocybini; short, two-segmented, palps; nine-striate elytra (Apionini) with some genera having remainders of a tenth; brentid-type abdomen; two large, usually convex, first ventrites, the second almost vertical at apex; the last three ventrites small, forming a valve-like structure that opens to extrude genitalia; usually long, cylindrical trochanters but which may be short in several basal lineages; tegmen with fully developed and diverse parameral plate (Alonso-Zarazaga & Wanat 2014; Anderson & Kissinger 2002; Jones et al 2012; Kissinger 2005a; Ptaszynska et al 2012)
While some few basal lineages of the Apioninae are associated with gymnosperms (Kissinger 1968; Alonso-Zarazaga and Wanat 2014), most basal groups are associated with plants in the clade Magnoliid as hosts (Alonso-Zarazaga & Wanat 2014)
We examined photographic images of the type material of the following species: Apion areolatum Kirsch, 1874, A. luteipes Kirsch, 1874 and A. opacum Kirsch, 1874 deposited in the Staatliches Museum für Tierkunde, Dresden (SMTD); A. novaeteutoniae Voss, 1959b, A. phaseoli Voss, 1958 and A. sesbaniae Voss, 1958 (Zoological Museum, Hamburg); Apion clarki Kissinger, 1990 (Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, USA - USMN); Apion hibisci Fall, 1918, A. neolentum Kissinger, 1968, A. umboniferum Fall, 1898, A. xanthoxyli Fall, 1898 (Database of Zoological Colletions - CVZBASE of the Museum of Comparative Zoology - Harvard University, http://mczbase. mcz.harvard.edu/name/Apion)
Summary
The subfamily Apioninae (Brentidae sensu latu) comprises a monophyletic group (Alonso-Zarazaga & Wanat 2014; Marvaldi et al 2002; Kuschel 1995; Wanat 2001) of very small beetles (0.75-13.00 mm in length, >95% < 3 mm) This subfamily differs from the other Curculionoidea by the following: a markedly convex to globose, pear-shaped (Apion is Greek for ‘small pear’) body (except Antliarhinitae); straight antennae with a compact club that appear geniculate in some Rhadinocybini; short, two-segmented, palps; nine-striate elytra (Apionini) with some genera having remainders of a tenth; brentid-type abdomen; two large, usually convex, first ventrites, the second almost vertical at apex; the last three ventrites small, forming a valve-like structure that opens to extrude genitalia; usually long, cylindrical trochanters but which may be short in several basal lineages; tegmen with fully developed and diverse parameral plate (Alonso-Zarazaga & Wanat 2014; Anderson & Kissinger 2002; Jones et al 2012; Kissinger 2005a; Ptaszynska et al 2012). Host associations of the Apioninae in South America are largely unknown (Alonso-Zarazaga & Wanat 2014)
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