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

康奈尔大学的布赖恩·丹福思博士和尼科·弗朗茨先生获得了一笔赠款，用于研究美洲花象甲的进化历史及其与新世界热带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理解的高度专业化的行为，在象鼻虫的进化，包括寄主植物的使用，授粉，种子捕食。它将通过综合各种来源的证据来实现，以重建协会内主要象鼻虫群体之间的关系。在一个特定的种群中的男性之间的复杂的战斗行为将在现场拍摄，并根据他们以前研究的结构调整fighting.In除了建立必要的框架，测试各种有趣的假设，这种昆虫-植物相互作用的进化史，拟议的研究有几个实际意义。Derelomine花象甲是整个热带地区数百种棕榈树的主要授粉者，包括非洲油棕榈和许多其他经济上重要的物种，这些物种被种植用于纤维，食品，医药，油和装饰。在过去，有控制地引进专门的象鼻虫传粉者已经导致作物产量的大幅增加。通过提供第一个全面的分类和说明识别这些象鼻虫组的关键，本研究构成了后续的实地工作的基础上，任何研究人员感兴趣的生物学的寄主植物。

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.