Submitted to: Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Washington
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: January 10, 1998
Publication Date: N/A
Interpretive Summary: Longhorned woodboring beetles (Cerambycidae) include over 30,000 species. Larvae of these beetles develop for 1-5 years inside trees and roots, consuming massive amounts of plant material. Due to the larval habits, they are important and necessary primary decomposers in forest ecosystems. For this same reason, they can be economically destructive when attacking wood used for commercial or aesthetic purposes. The Elaphidionini is one of the most generically diverse tribes in the family and range from Canada to South America and the West Indies. Adults can be numerous, and their nocturnal attraction to lights has shown them to be the most abundant group of longhorned beetles in certain parts of Mexico. This group has had a long, confusing taxonomic history, and generic concepts and identity have been unstable. This study presents a key and diagnoses for all genera. Biological and distributional information and a detailed description is presented for each genus. This study will be important to scientists (taxonomists, ecologists, foresters) and laypersons who need to identify beetles associated with trees or dead wood.
Technical Abstract:
A generic-level phylogenetic analysis of the tribe Elaphidionini Thomson, 1864 (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) is presented. Cladistic methods using morphological features and implied weighting parsimony were employed. The monophyly of the tribe is weakly supported by presence of antennal carinae, tibial carinae, and an abruptly rounded anterior margin of the mesonotum. Based on the results of the implied weights phylogenetic analysis and classificatory decisions, the following taxonomic changes are made: four genera are removed or transferred from the tribe. Six new synonymies are proposed and 29 new combinations. Diagnoses of all genera are presented with notes on distribution, diversity, and relationships. A key to genera of Elaphidionini is presented.
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