Revision and phylogeny of the Caribbean weevil genus Apotomoderes Dejean, 1834 (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Entiminae)

The weevil genus Apotomoderes Dejean, 1834 (Curculionidae: Entiminae: Geonemini) is revised, including a redescription of the only previously known species, A. lateralis (Gyllenhal, 1834), and descriptions of five new species: A. anodontos sp. n., A. menocrater sp. n., A. sotomayorae sp. n., A. chariedris sp. n., and A. hadroprion sp. n. The monophyly of Apotomoderes is supported by multiple synapomorphic character states including the two-segmented labial palps, a postocular constriction on the head, a sexually dimorphic, globular pronotum in males, and the presence of setae in the dorsal subapical region of the aedeagus. In addition, all species of Apotomoderes except A. anodontos have a large, knife-like cuticular tooth on the profemur and a toothed ridge along the anteromesal margin of the protibia. Illustrations of external and internal morphological traits are provided, along with a key to the six constituent species. A cladistic analysis of 12 taxa (6 outgroup, 6 ingroup) and 22 characters yielded a single most parsimonious cladogram (L=33, CI=75, RI=90) with the topology (A. anodontos, (A. menocrater, (A. sotomayorae, (A. lateralis, (A. chariedris, A. hadroprion))))). A species of Artipus Sahlberg (Naupactini) was placed as the most immediate relative of Apotomoderes; however, the state of phylogenetic knowledge of Caribbean entimine weevil is still too incomplete to warrant any higher level rearrangements. All species of Apotomoderes occur on Hispaniola with the exception of A. sotomayorae which is endemic to Mona Island, Puerto Rico. A historical biogeographic reconstruction yielded the taxon-area cladogram (southwestern Dominican Republic, (eastern Dominican Republic, Mona Island)), suggesting two successive eastbound colonization events in the Miocene/Pliocene, originating from the southern Hispaniola peninsula. Reliable host plant records are unavailable although adults of A. menocrater have been found on allspice (Pimenta Lindley; Myrtaceae) and lignum vitae (Guaiacum Linnaeus; Zygophyllaceae).