DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Phylogeny and Evolution of Host Associations and Fighting Behavior in Neotropical Derelomine Weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

康奈尔大学的布莱恩·丹福斯博士和尼科·弗朗茨先生获得了一笔拨款，用于研究发育中花象鼻虫的进化史，以及它们与新世界热带地区棕榈树和其他相关植物的多种相互作用。本研究的主要目的是促进对象鼻虫高度专业化行为的进化的理解，包括寄主植物的利用、授粉和种子捕食。这将通过综合各种来源的证据来实现，以便重建协会内主要象鼻虫群体之间的关系。一组特定物种的雄性之间复杂的战斗行为将在野外被拍摄下来，并根据它们先前研究的战斗结构适应性进行分析。除了建立必要的框架来测试关于这种昆虫-植物相互作用的进化史的各种有趣的假设外，拟议的研究还有几个实际意义。象鼻虫是热带地区数百种棕榈树的主要传粉者，包括非洲油棕和许多其他经济上重要的物种，这些物种被种植用于纤维、食物、药物、油和装饰品。过去，有控制地引进专门的象鼻虫传粉媒介已使作物产量大幅增加。通过提供这些象鼻虫类群的第一个综合分类和图解鉴定钥匙，本研究构成了对其寄主植物生物学感兴趣的任何研究人员后续实地工作的基础。

A grant has been awarded to Dr. Bryan Danforth and Mr. Nico Franz of Cornell University to study the evolutionary history of derelomine flower weevils and their diverse interactions with palms and other related plants in the New World tropics. The principal objective of this research is to facilitate an understanding of the evolution of highly specialized behaviors in the weevils, including host plant use, pollination, and seed predation. It will be achieved by synthesizing evidence from a variety of sources in order to reconstruct the relationships among the major weevil groups within the association. The complex fighting behaviors among the males in one particular group of species will be filmed in the field and analyzed in the light of their previously studied structural adaptations for fighting.In addition to establishing the necessary framework for tests of various intriguing hypotheses about the evolutionary history of this insect-plant interaction, the proposed research has several practical implications. Derelomine flower weevils are the primary pollinators of hundreds of palms throughout the tropics, including the African oil palm and many other economically important species that are cultivated for fiber, food, medicine, oil, and ornament. Controlled introductions of specialized weevil pollinators have resulted in substantial increments in crop production in the past. By providing the first comprehensive classification and illustrated identification keys for these weevil groups, the present study constitutes the basis for subsequent field work by any researcher interested in the biology of their host plants.