This review suggests that the ecology and patchy global distribution of seasonally dry tropical forest (SDTF) has distinctively structured the evolutionary history and biogeography of woody plant groups that are confined to it. SDTFs have few widespread woody plant species causing high β-diversity between separate areas of forests. These separate areas contain geologically old, monophyletic clades of endemic plant species that often have geographically structured intraspecific genetic variation. These patterns of diversity, endemism, and phylogeny indicate a stable, dispersal-limited SDTF system. SDTF species tend to belong to larger clades confined to this vegetation, exemplifying phylogenetic niche conservatism, and we argue that this is evidence that the SDTF is a metacommunity (biome) for woody plant clades. That phylogenetic, population genetic, biogeographic, and community ecological patterns differ in woody plants from tropical rain forests and savannas suggests a hypothesis that broad ecological s...

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Woody Plant Diversity, Evolution, and Ecology in the Tropics: Perspectives from Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests

The multiple funnel trap, an efficient, collapsible, non-sticky trap for scolytid beetles, consists of a series of vertically aligned funnels with a collecting jar at the bottom. The trap compared favorably with sticky traps and Scandinavian drainpipe traps for three species of ambrosia beetles and the mountain pine beetle. Minimum maintenance required for this trap allows for high efficiency in pheromone-based research, survey, and mass trapping of scolytid beetles.

A multiple funnel trap for scolytid beetles (coleoptera)

Summary data are given for the 25 new species of exotic bark- and wood-boring Coleoptera first reported in the continental United States between 1985 and 2005, including 2 Buprestidae (Agrilus plan...

https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/jrnl/2006/nrs_2006_haack_003.pdf

Exotic bark- and wood-boring Coleoptera in the United States: recent establishments and interceptions

Fraedrich, S. W., Harrington, T. C., Rabaglia, R. J., Ulyshen, M. D., Mayfield, A. E., III, Hanula, J. L., Eickwort, J. M., and Miller, D. R. 2008. A fungal symbiont of the redbay ambrosia beetle causes a lethal wilt in redbay and other Lauraceae in the southeastern United States. Plant Dis. 92:215-224. Extensive mortality of redbay has been observed in the coastal plain counties of Georgia and southeastern South Carolina since 2003 and northeastern Florida since 2005. We show that the redbay mortality is due to a vascular wilt disease caused by an undescribed Raffaelea sp. that is a fungal symbiont of Xyleborus glabratus, an exotic ambrosia beetle. Trees affected by the disease exhibit wilt symptoms that include a black discoloration of the sapwood. Redbay trees and containerized seedlings died within 5 to 12 weeks after inoculation with the Raffaelea sp. When redbay seedlings were challenged with X. glabratus, the beetles tunneled into 96% of the plants, 70% died, and the Raffaelea sp. was recovered from 91%. X. glabratus and the Raffaelea sp. have also been associated with mortality of sassafras, and the Raffaelea sp. has been isolated from wilted pondberry and pondspice. Additional inoculation studies have shown that the Raffaelea sp. is pathogenic to sassafras, spicebush, and avocado, but not to red maple. Female adults of X. glabratus have paired mycangia near the mandibles, and the Raffaelea sp. is routinely isolated from the heads of beetles. The fungus is apparently introduced into healthy redbay during beetle attacks on stems and branches. The wilt currently affecting redbay and sassafras represents a major threat to other members of the Lauraceae indigenous to the Americas, including avocado in commercial production.

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A Fungal Symbiont of the Redbay Ambrosia Beetle Causes a Lethal Wilt in Redbay and Other Lauraceae in the Southeastern United States

Ehrlich and Raven's postulate that rapid diversification follows innovation in plant defense has often been invoked a posteriori for plant lineages of unusual diversity and chemical distinctiveness. The postulate can be more rigorously tested by defining a novel class of defense using chemical and/or anatomical criteria, independent of taxonomic lineage. If multiple plant lineages have evolved the new defense type, then according to the postulate they should be consistently more diverse than their sister groups (of equal age, by definition) when the latter retain the primitive defensive repertoire. Secretory canals are an independently defined, repeat- edly evolved feature that functions to protect plants from herbivores and pathogens. The canals might therefore be expected to allow plant radiation in an adaptive zone of reduced herbivory and disease. We have quantified the evidence for this hypothesis by comparing the diversities of lineages that have independently evolved canal systems with their sister groups for as many plant lineages as current taxonomic evidence allows. A sign test showed that canal-bearing lineages have consistently higher diversities than their sister groups (P = .0021). Explanations for this result, other than selective advantage conferred by secretory canals, are examined and provisionally rejected.

Escalation of plant defense: do latex and resin canals spur plant diversification?

This chapter summarizes the historical and contemporary taxonomy, phylogenetic relationships, morphological and molecular approaches, and information resources used in the classification of bark and ambrosia beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae). The chapter pays special attention to the description of methods, including details on morphological and molecular characters on which the current classification is based. Illustrations and a detailed glossary of representative groups will allow users to understand the morphology of bark beetles. Relationships are illustrated by an up-to-date consensus phylogenetic tree. Diversity of the group, as well as individual tribes and genera, are exhaustively tabulated for the first time. Controversies surrounding the evolutionary origins of bark beetles and ambiguities in their morphology and classification are also discussed.

Morphology, Taxonomy, and Phylogenetics of Bark Beetles

Responses of seven species of pine-infesting beetles to traps baited with either turpentine, ethanol, turpentine and ethanol released from separate dispensers, or a 1:1 solution of turpentine and ethanol released from one dispenser were assessed in three field experiments. The weevil species, Pachylobius picivorus (Germar), and the cerambycid pine sawyer, Monochamus carolinensis (Olivier), were attracted to turpentine and were unaffected by the addition of ethanol. The ambrosia beetle, Xyleborus affinis Eichhoff, responded to ethanol alone but was not attracted to turpentine, nor did the presence of turpentine significantly affect its response to ethanol. The remaining four species displayed responses to turpentine that were enhanced by the addition of ethanol, but in different ways according to the method of deployment. Hylobius pales (Herbst) weevils and M. titillator (F.) sawyers displayed greatest attraction to turpentine and ethanol whether they were released from side-by-side dispensers or as a solution from one dispenser. The black turpentine beetle, Dendroctonus terebrans (Olivier), displayed the highest response to turpentine and ethanol in solution. The ambrosia beetle, X. pubescens Zimmermann, responded in low numbers to turpentine or ethanol deployed singly, but displayed an enhanced response (20-fold increase) to turpentine and ethanol deployed side-by-side and an even greater response (60-fold increase) to a solution of turpentine and ethanol. Reasons for increased responses by some species to a solution of turpentine and ethanol over the two released separately are not clear; they may lie in different dosages or evaporation rates of volatiles in the field. Laboratory analyses of trapped headspace volatiles from dispensers containing only turpentine and those containing a solution of turpentine and ethanol revealed no differences in the amounts of four principal monoterpene hydrocarbons (α-pinene, camphene, β-pinene, and limonene) released over time. The synergistic effect of turpentine and ethanol for some species and not others may point to ecological differences between species with regard to the condition of preferred host material.

Synergism of Turpentine and Ethanol as Attractants for Certain Pine-Infesting Beetles (Coleoptera)

Feeding habits, degree of host specificity, and mating systems were examined for 83 species of Scolytidae and Platypodidae in a tropical rain forest in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico. Neotropical genera dominate the fauna; most species have been found in Central America and northern South America. The dominant feeding habit was xylomycetophagy (60.2%) followed by phloeophagy (26.5%), a pattern observed in other humid tropical areas, but different from that observed in other Mexican communities. Most xylomycetophagous species were highly polyphagous; phloeophagous species were much more host-specific. Most common mating systems were monogyny (49.4%) and inbred polygyny (34.9%), the latter associated with a high degree of polyphagy. An annotated checklist of species is presented as appendix.

Biology of Bark and Ambrosia Beetles (Coleoptera: Scolytidae and Platypodidae) of a Tropical Rain Forest in Southeastern Mexico with an Annotated Checklist of Species

In this chapter we discuss the distribution of seasonally dry tropical forests (SDTFs) in Mexico and Central America, emphasize their distinctive characteristics, and provide a summary of floristic and diversity studies of several sites. As a particular case, we analyze floristic affinities and diversity of the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve and adjoining area in Jalisco, Mexico, with respect to different taxonomic levels and life forms. The analysis is based on 1109 species (1064 native), 570 genera (544 native) and 115 families from all the biotic communities in the region from sea level to c. 500 m. The native flora analyzed consists of 229 species of trees, 227 species of shrubs, 40 epiphytes, 371 herbs and 197 vines (86 herbaceous and 111 woody). At Chamela, about 41.5% of the species are distributed on the Pacific slope from Sonora and Baja California Sur to Central America, and it appears that this coastal flora is a relatively homogeneous and continuous floristic province. There is an (as yet) imprecisely defined zone of endemism which may encompass the area from Jalisco to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Oaxaca. Comparisons are made with diversity and floristic affinities of other Mexican and Central America SDTF sites. Based on the combination of species richness, endemism levels and other factors, we suggest that further conservation efforts might best be focused on the Pacific slope states of Michoacán, Guerrero and Oaxaca.

Mexican and Central American Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests: Chamela-Cuixmala, Jalisco, as a Focal Point for Comparison

The fauna of Scolytidae and Platypodidae is reviewed for tropical southern Florida (Collier, Broward, Dade, and Monroe Counties). The family Platypodidae is represented by 3 species, all in the genus Platypus. The family Scolytidae includes 83 species in 37 genera in the region. This total includes 20 species considered immigrants to the area. Three species previously reported from the region, Cryptocarenus spatulatus Wood, Xyleborus xylographus (Say), and Araptus politus (Blandford), probably do not occur there. Feeding habits, mating systems, hosts, and distributions are summarized for all species included.

Thomas H. Atkinson

Papers

Morphology, Taxonomy, and Phylogenetics of Bark Beetles

Synergism of Turpentine and Ethanol as Attractants for Certain Pine-Infesting Beetles (Coleoptera)

Biology of Bark and Ambrosia Beetles (Coleoptera: Scolytidae and Platypodidae) of a Tropical Rain Forest in Southeastern Mexico with an Annotated Checklist of Species

Mexican and Central American Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests: Chamela-Cuixmala, Jalisco, as a Focal Point for Comparison

Annotated Checklist of the Bark and Ambrosia Beetles (Coleoptera: Platypodidae and Scolytidae) of Tropical Southern Florida