Biogeography of weevils (Curculionidae: Coleoptera) associated with figs (Ficus: Moraceae)

Abstract

Insects and flowering plants are undoubtedly the most diverse group of terrestrial organisms. They interact mostly through pollination and herbivory which in a long term evolution promoted the diversification of many groups of insects. There is a plethora of examples of broad irradiations of groups of insects on classes of plants, and among these one of the most remarkable are the fig-wasps and the fig trees. Those organisms have been used as models to study of mutualism and coevolution. However, there are yet other organisms related to fig trees that are neglected by fig-tree-researchers. One group of beetles, the weevils, seems to be also specialized in figs. Despite of relatively few reports, all of them show strong evidences of an association of weevils and fig trees. As a first approach to better understand this association we aim to reconstruct the global biogeography of Curculionidae beetles associated with Ficus addressing the following questions: (1) Which species of Curculionidae are related with Ficus and how specialized are they? (2) What was the scenario of adaptive irradiation of fig-weevils? (3) Do the biogeographic connections of weevils, wasps and fig trees form a pattern? In order to do that, we will analyze morphological and molecular data of the weevils species already collected on fig trees in Brazil, Costa Rica, Philippines and South Africa. We will use Maximum Likelihood reconstruction and Bayesian inference analyses to estimate the phylogenetic tree topology and divergence times. Biogeographical relationships will be investigated using a Bayesian approach to dispersal-vicariance (S-DIVA). The results of our study will encourage future studies on the biology and ecology of involved species and will help to understand the implications the weevils may have on the origin and maintenance of fig-wasp-fig mutualism. (AU)