Taxonomic Revision of the Genus Miltotranes Zimmerman, 1994 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Molytinae), the Bowenia-Pollinating Cycad Weevils in Australia, with Description of a New Species and Implications for the Systematics of Bowenia

Yun Hsiao; Rolf G Oberprieler

doi:10.3390/insects13050456

Taxonomic Revision of the Genus Miltotranes Zimmerman, 1994 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Molytinae), the Bowenia-Pollinating Cycad Weevils in Australia, with Description of a New Species and Implications for the Systematics of Bowenia

Insects. 2022 May 12;13(5):456. doi: 10.3390/insects13050456.

Authors

Yun Hsiao^{1

2}, Rolf G Oberprieler²

Affiliations

¹ Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
² Australian National Insect Collection, CSIRO, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.

Abstract

The Australian endemic weevils of the genus Miltotranes Zimmerman, 1994 (Curculionidae: Molytinae: Tranes group), comprising two species, M. prosternalis (Lea, 1929) and M. subopacus (Lea, 1929), are highly host-specific and the only known pollinators of Bowenia cycads, which comprise two CITES-protected species restricted to Tropical Queensland in Australia. In the present study, the taxonomy of Miltotranes is reviewed, a lectotype for the name Tranes prosternalis Lea, 1929 is designated and a new species associated with the Bowenia population in the McIlwraith Range is described as M. wilsoni sp. n. The descriptions and diagnoses of all species are supplemented with illustrations of their habitus and salient structures, and an identification key to all species and a distribution map are provided. Potential implications of the new species and of the taxonomy and biogeography of Miltotranes overall on the systematics and conservation of Bowenia are discussed.

Keywords: Australia; conservation; cycad pollinators; cycad systematics; new taxa; taxonomy.

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.