Morphology and phylogeny of the weevil subfamily Baridinae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

Abstract

Even though the phylogenetic classification of Curculionoidea is still in its infant stages, knowledge of the morphology of the group also is relatively lacking. Significant morphological reviews have been done at the family level; however, little has been reviewed at the subfamily level and below (beyond description of genitalia morphology). Since the erection of the weevil subfamily Baridinae by Schoenherr in 1836, morphological studies of the group are limited and have mostly been restricted to the study of genitalia morphology, provided a few exceptions. Furthermore, no phylogenetic hypothesis has been derived for this extraordinarily diverse group. This study provides a fairly comprehensive, though by no means exhaustive, review of baridine external and internal morphology to aid future studies on the group, as well as the first phylogenetic results of Baridinae, including 301 taxa and 113 morphological characters. Despite fairly well-resolved results, indicating paraphyly of nearly all of the currently recognized intra-subfamilial divisions, no change to the current classification is made. Even though groupings are proposed based on the final results, it is believed that more rigorous analyses need to be made prior to a re-evaluation of the current classification.