Bark and Ambrosia Beetles

Summary

I am abandoning the “modified Wood” system of classification on this website. While its phylogenetic basis has long been challenged, recent changes within and between higher level groups makes it impractical to continue to use.

Classification of Scolytinae and Platypodinae

The current consensus is that Platypodinae and Scolytinae are subfamilies within the family Curculionidae.  Wood (1978, 1982, 1986, 1993, 2007), Wood & Bright (1992) and Bright (2014, 2019, 2021) treated them as families, but this rank is not supported by phylogenetic (see below) and comparative morphology studies (Lyal 1995, Kuschel 1995, Kuschel et al. 2000, Thompson 1992).  Traditionally the Platypodinae and Scolytinae were treated together and it was believed that they were sister taxa, regardless of rank.  Recent molecular work has shown that this is not the case (McKenna et al. 2009).  Nonetheless I continue to treat them together at this site for historical reasons, and also because of similarity of biology.

Phylogenetic studies have shown that Wood's subfamily and tribal groupings within the Scolytinae are unsupported and cannot be defended (Normark et al. 1999, Sequeira et al 2000, Farrell et al. 2001, Jordal, 2007, Jordal et al. 2011, Johnson et al. 2018, Pistone et al. 2018).  His reclassification of the Platypodinae (Wood 1993) has received less attention, but most of the “primitive” taxa have been moved to other subfamilies of the Curculionidae.  Nonetheless a comprehensive new classification has not emerged.  Bright (2014, 2019, 2021) has proposed a system, but I consider it premature and not viable and do not expect it to have much acceptance. Because of the deficiencies of Wood's classification, particularly at the subfamily level, Alonzo-Zarazaga & Lyal (2009) suggested dropping his subfamilies (then tribes) and keeping all of his tribes (then subtribes).  This is a purely pragmatic proposal and does not represent a phylogenetic system.  It is the most prevalent system now in use.

Until now I have followed a modified Wood system on this web site (families to subfamilies; subfamilies to tribes; and tribes to subtribes) reflecting the placement of Scolytinae and Platypodinae within the Curculionidae.  I have done this purely for the convenience of users because of the widespread use of Wood's publications.  Until fairly recently most taxonomic changes have been at the genus or species level within the limits of Wood’s tribes (subtribes).  More recent phylogenetic work has now changed the limits of some of these dramatically (Mandelshtam & Beaver 2003, Cognato 2013, Jordal & Kaidel 2017, Johnson et al. 2020, Jordal 2021), making it impossible to continue to paper over the cracks.

The most recent worldwide catalog (Wood & Bright 1992) listed 5,812 species of Scolytinae and 1,463 species of Platypodinae. The number has changed since that time due to descriptions of new species (increase) and synonymy of described species (decrease).  Current numbers are 6,525 and 1,331, respectively.  Changes in generic assignments and nomenclature are reviewed by Hulcr et al. (2015).

Major Changes

Some tribes contain recognized subtribes, most of which are not shown here.

References

Alonso-Zarazaga, M.A. and C.H.C. Lyal. 2009. A catalogue of family and genus group names in Scolytinae and Platypodinae with nomenclatural remarks (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). Zootaxa 2258: 112–127.
Bright, D.E. 2014. A Catalog of Scolytidae and Platypodidae (Coleoptera), Supplement 3 (2000-2010), with notes on subfamily and tribal reclassifications. Insecta Mundi 356: 1-336.
Bright, D.E. 2019. A Taxonomic Monograph of the Bark and Ambrosia Beetles of the West Indies
(Coleoptera: Curculionoidea: Scolytidae). Occasional Papers of the Florida State Collection of Arthropods 12: 1-491.
Bright 2021. A Catalog of Scolytidae (Coleoptera), Supplement 4 (2011-2019) with an Annotated Checklist of the World Fauna (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea: Scolytidae). Contributions of the C.P. Gillette Museum of Arthropod Diversity. Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, Colorado.
Cognato, A.I. 2013. Molecular phylogeny and taxonomic review of Premnobiini Browne, 1962 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae). Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 1: 1-12
Farrell, B. D., A. S. Sequeira, B. C. O'Meara, B. B. Normark, J. H. Chung, and B. H. Jordal. 2001. The evolution of agriculuture in beetles (Curculionidae: Scolytinae and Platypodinae). Evolution 55(10): 2011-2027.
Hulcr, J. , T.H. Atkinson, A.I. Cognato, B.H. Jordal, and D.D. McKenna. 2015. Morphology, taxonomy, and phylogentics of bark beetles. in Vega, F.E.and Hofstetler, R.W., eds., Bark Beetles: Biology and Ecology of Native and Introduced Species. Academic Press. pages. 41-84.
Johnson, A.J., J. Hulcr, M.  Knížek, T.H. Atkinson, M.Y. Mandelshtam, S.M. Smith, A.I. Cognato, S. Park, Y. Li and B.H. Jordal. 2020. Revision of the Bark Beetle Genera Within the Former Cryphalini (Curculionidae: Scolytinae). Insect Systematics and Biodiversity. 4(3): 1-81
Johnson, A.J., D.D. McKenna, B.H.Jordal, A.I.Cognato, S.M.Smith, A.R. Lemmon, E.M. Lemmon, E.M. and J. Hulcr. 2018. Phylogenomics clarifies repeated evolutionary origins of inbreeding and fungus farming in bark beetles (Curculionidae, Scolytinae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 127: 229-238
Jordal, B. H. 2007. Reconstructing the phylogeny of Scolytinae and close allies: major obstacles and prospects for a solution. USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-45: 3-8.
Jordal, B.H. 2021. Molecular and morphological revision of Afrotropical Hypoborini (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) revealed novel bark beetle taxa with narrow geographical distributions. European Journal of Entomology 118: 90-110
Jordal, B.H. and J. Kaidel. 2017. Phylogenetic analysis of Micracidini bark beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) demonstrates a single trans-Atlantic disjunction and inclusion of Cactopinus in the New World clade. Canadian Entomologist 149(1): 8-25
Kuschel, G. 1995. A phylogenetic classification of the Curculionoidea to families and subfamilies. In Biology and Phylogeny of Curculionoidea, R.S. Anderson and C.H.C. Lyal [eds.], Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Washington 14: 5-33.
Kuschel, G., R. A. B. Leschen and E. C. Zimmerman. 2000. Platypodidae under scrutiny. Invertebrate Taxonomy 14:771-805.
Lyal, C. H. C. 1995. The ventral structures of the weevil head (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea). In Biology and Phylogeny of Curculionoidea, R.S. Anderson and C.H.C. Lyal [eds.], Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Washington 14.
Mandelshtam, M.Y.; Beaver, R.A. 2003.  Amphiscolytus  - a new genus, and Amphiscolytini - a new tribe of Scolytidae (Coleoptera) for  Dacryophthorus capensis  Schedl. Zootaxa. 298: 1-8.
McKenna, D.D. 2011. Temporal lags and overlap in the diversification of weevils and flowering plants: recent advances and prospects for additional resolution. American Entomolomologist 57, 54–55.
McKenna, D.D., Sequeira, A.S., Marvaldi, A.E., Farrell, B.D., 2009. Temporal lags and overlap in the diversification of weevils and flowering plants. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 106, 7083–7088.
Normark, B. B., B. H. Jordal and B. D. Farrell. 1999. Origin of a haplodiploid beetle lineage. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B-Biological Sciences. 266:2253-2259.
Pistone, D., J. Gohli, and B. H. Jordal. 2018. Molecular phylogeny of bark and ambrosia beetles (Curculionidae: Scolytinae) based on 18 molecular markers. Syst. Entomol. 43: 387–406.
Sequeira, A. S., B. B. Normark, and B. D. Farrell.2000. Evolutionary assembly of the conifer fauna: Distinguishing ancient from recent associations in bark beetles. Proceedings of the Royal Society Biological Series B 267: 2359-2366.
Thompson, R.T., 1992. Observation on the morphology and classification of weevils (Coleoptera, Curculionoidea) with a key to major groups. Journal of Natural History 26, 835–891.
Wood, S.L. 1978. A reclassification of the subfamilies and tribes of Scolytidae (Coleoptera). Anales Société Entomologique de France 14(1): 95-122.
Wood, S.L. 1982. The bark and ambrosia beetles of North and Central America (Coleoptera: Scolytidae), a taxonomic monograph. Great Basin Naturalist Memoirs 6: 1-1356.
Wood, S.L., 1986. A reclassification of the genera of Scolytidae (Coleoptera). Great Basin Natural. Mem. 10(2): 1-126
Wood, S.L. and D.E. Bright. 1992. A catalog of Scolytidae and Platypodidae (Coleoptera), Part 2. Taxonomic Index (Volumes A,B). Great Basin Naturalist Memoirs 13: 1-1553.
Wood, S.L. 1993. Revision of the genera of Platypodidae (Coleoptera). Great Basin Naturalist 53(3): 259-281.
Wood, S.L. 2007. Bark and ambrosia beetles of South America (Coleoptera: Scolytidae). Monte L. Bean Science Museum. Provo, Utah. 900 p.

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