Host plants of the weevil genus Heilipus Germar, 1824 (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Molytinae, Molytini, Hylobiina)

Abstract

Heilipus Germar, 1824 (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Molytinae, Molytini, Hylobiina) is a largely understudied tropical lineage of weevils with 90 described species distributed from the southern United States to northern Argentina. Several of its species cause damage to avocado (Persea americana Mill.; Lauraceae Juss.) crops in the Americas. Apart from the species of economic importance, there is a paucity of information regarding the host plants of species of Heilipus. This study presents a comprehensive overview of the current knowledge on the habits and host plants of this group of weevils, based on a literature review and the examination of label data associated with entomological material in museums and scientific collections. The larval stages of 24 Heilipus species are borers of either seeds or trunks of 38 plant species belonging to 13 genera: 33 species (12 genera) from the family Lauraceae and five species (one genus) from the family Annonaceae Juss. Four new host plant records and the first identification of habits and host plants for H. albovenosus (Champion), H. empiricus (Pascoe), H. fassli (Voss) and H. mirus (Pascoe) are provided. The biology and host plants of the seed and trunk borers are discussed, as well as the oligophagous feeding behaviour exhibited by these two feeding guilds. Seed-boring Heilipus species constitute one of the primary groups of pre-dispersal seed predators of the family Lauraceae in the Americas. Furthermore, the high diversity of Heilipus and its host plants in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest suggests that this area may be a possible centre of origin for these weevils.