Morfologic study, delimitaion and redescription of species Spermologus rufus e S. funereus (Curculionidae, Molytinae)

• Grant number: 14/14974-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: November 01, 2014
• End date: June 30, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Sergio Antonio Vanin
• Grantee: Elton Popp Antunes
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The genus Spermologus Schoenherr, 1843 (Curculionidae, Coleoptera) it’s a weevil genus with only seven described species, however its identification is a hard task. Such hardness is due to its low detailed descriptions without ilustrations of important morfologic structures, like male and female genitalia and mouth parts. It occurs in South America, with registers of 6 species in Brazil. Some species atack crops, which makes the genus economically relevant, besides they damage seeds of many plants families. Along its confusing taxonomic history, the species from Spermologus has been inserted in two genera, Spermologus and Tiphaura Pascoe, 1871. These genera have been considered synonyms, revalidated and one more time synonymzed. The species Spermologus also show unwell defined synonyms (like Spermologus funereus Pascoe, 1871) so they need a solid studies base. This project aims to redescribe the species S. rufus Boheman, 1843 and S. funereus in a comparative way, specially about genitalia and mouth parts structures, aiming to find new characters whose may allow subsequent philogenetic and biogeografic studies, besides reviewing S. funereus synonyms. (AU)