Setliff, Gregory Peter2010-12-162010-12-162009-08https://hdl.handle.net/11299/98004University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. August 2009. Major: Entomology. Advisors: Susan J. Weller, George D. Weiblen. 1 computer file (PDF); xviii, 244 pages, appendix A.This dissertation focuses on the systematics of weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) from the Indo-Australian tropics. Special consideration is given to a novel group of seven genera of Cryptorhynchinae that comprise the crowned weevil group, so named for the crown-like carina or glabrous semicircular bulge on the vertex on the head of these weevils, which is one of the more salient features shared by these genera. Herein, the phylogeny of the largest crowned weevil genus, Asytesta Pascoe, is reconstructed with parsimony and Bayesian analyses based on a data set of 82 adult morphological characters (187 states) for 40 ingroup taxa. One species of Cyamobolus Schönherr and three species of Cyamotrox Heller are used as outgroups and all six genera and 14 species of the crowned weevil group as redefined here ( Cyamomistus Heller, Eudyasmus Pascoe, Glochinorhinus Waterhouse, Nothotragopus Zimmerman, Panopides Pascoe, and Zygara Pascoe), are used to test the monophyly of Asytesta. The results did not support the monophyly of the Asytesta due to the nesting of monotypic Zygara within an apical subclade of Asytesta. Accordingly, Zygara becomes a new junior synonym of Asytesta and Zygara doriae (Kirsch) is returned to its original combination with Asytesta; A. doriae Kirsch status revised. With the inclusion of Zygara, Asytesta as redefined here is monophyletic. Resolution within Asytesta was poor; however, three subclades with strong support were recovered and are formally recognized as species groups. The analyses also recovered monophyletic Nothotragopus, Panopides, and Glochinorhinus. Relationships among the genera were not resolved. The monophyly of Eudyasmus was not supported. In a strict consensus of all trees recovered, Eudyasmus collapsed into a polytomy with Glochinorhinus. A revision of Asytesta is also presented. Of the 41 species recognized here, 23 are previously described and 18 are new: A. alexanderiae, A. alexriedeli, A. allisoni, A. biakana, A. cheesmanae, A. concolora, A. emarginata, A. fayae, A. frontalis, A. gressitti, A. julieae, A. marginalis, A. morobeana, A. sedlaceki, A. thompsoni, A. tuberculata, A. vivienae, and A. woodlarkiana, new species. Asytesta bidentata Voss new status, is elevated to species status from a subspecies of A. lugubris Heller. Four Asytesta species are synonymized: A. circulifera Lea, 1928 = A. rata Heller, 1910, A. definita Faust, 1898 = A. humeralis Pascoe, 1865, A. granulifera Lea, 1928 = A. aucta Faust, 1898, and A. setipes Lea, 1928 = A. lugubris Heller, 1895 new synonyms. Two previously described species were misplaced in Asytesta and are transferred to other genera as follows: A. maura Pascoe to Microporopterus Lea and A. ypsilon Heller to Meroleptus Faust, new combinations. Three species groups, the doriae, dorsalis, and emarginata groups are newly recognized based on the phylogenetic results and are described. Lectotypes are designated for 18 species. A checklist and key for all crowned weevil genera, key to species groups and species of Asytesta, adult habitus illustrations, distribution maps, and line drawings of diagnostic characters are provided.en-USCurculionidaeIndo-Australian regionPapua New GuineaSystematicsTaxonomyWeevilEntomologySystematic studies of the indo-Australian crowned weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Cryptorhynchinae)Thesis or Dissertation