Use of the Endophallus Characters in the Systematics of the Rhynchophorous beetles (Coleoptera, Curculionoidea)

摘要

An examination of the shape and armament of the endophallus has shown that some of the traditional concepts in the classification of the Curculionoidea should be changed or, at least, verified. Until recently, the use of characters of the endophallus,or the internal sac (IS) in the English-language literature, in the systematics of the rhynchopho-rous beetles has been unpopular. The latest versions of the classification Curculionoidea are based on traditional characters of the external structure (Zherikhin and Egorov, 1990; Lawrence and Newton, 1995; Alon-so-Zarazaga and Lyal, 1999), or, rather unexpectedly, characters of the wing structure are used (Zherikhin and Gratshev, 1995). In special studies, e.g., revisions and reviews of particular generaand families, only details of the IS structure, for example, separate scle-rites (ligula, lacinia, aggonoporium) or setose areas (Zaslavskii, 1971; Alonso-Zarazaga, 1990; Davidian, 1993, 1995; Legalov, 1997; Savitsky, 1999), were considered. The shape of IS in the in copula state has not been considered, which, on my opinion, is an inexcusable omission. Anderson (1987), in the review of the tribe Cleonini of the New World, and Thompson (1988), in the revision of the weevil genus Leptoste-thus were thefirst who used the IS structure for elucidating the problems of the weevil taxonomy. Both the authors worked with glycerin preparations, using the method elaborated by R.T. Thompson. This method is unfortunately very complicated and does not enable preparation of an endophallus inflated to the maximum extent thus making difficult comparative analysis of the material and its storage and transportation.