Biodiversity of Bariditae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Conoderinae) in Mississippi By TITLE PAGE Ryan J. Whitehouse Approved by: Richard L. Brown (Major Professor) Robert S. Anderson Gerald T. Baker Kenneth Willeford (Graduate Coordinator) George M. Hopper (Dean, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences) A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Mississippi State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Agricultural Life Sciences in the Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology & Plant Pathology Mississippi State, Mississippi May 2020 Copyright by COPYRIGHT PAGE Ryan J. Whitehouse 2020 Name: Ryan J. Whitehouse ABSTRACT Date of Degree: May 1, 2020 Institution: Mississippi State University Major Field: Agricultural Life Sciences Major Professor: Richard L. Brown Title of Study: Biodiversity of Bariditae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Conoderinae) in Mississippi Pages in Study: 262 Candidate for Degree of Master of Science A survey of Bariditae in Mississippi resulted in records of 75 species in 32 genera and included two undescribed species and 36 new state records. An additional two species were recognized as possibly occurring in Mississippi as well. Diagnoses for all of the genera and species in the state are provided and keys to the genera as well as all of the species were made. Species were found in every county within Mississippi and are representative of the Bariditae fauna of the southeastern United States. Open, prairie-like habitats and aquatic wetland habitats were the habitats with the highest biodiversity of Bariditae in the state. Species of Baris, Geraeus, Linogeraeus, and Odontocorynus, were found in the highest numbers and Linogeraeus and Sibariops were found to be the most speciose genera in the state. Sibariops amica, S. benigna, and S. houstoni, are proposed as new synonyms of S. concinna. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my Advisor Dr. Richard Brown whose advice and guidance was invaluable for my research. I would also like to thank my committee members Dr. Robert Anderson and Dr. Gerald Baker for their advice and assistance. I would like to acknowledge Lourdes Chamorro (U.S. National Museum of Natural History), Emmy Engasser (Arizona State University Hasbrouck Insect Collection), Jennifer Giron (Texas Tech University), Lee Herman (American Museum of Natural History), Crystal Maier (Museum of Comparative Zoology), and Thomas McElrath (Illinois Natural History Survey) who assisted me by loaning specimens, providing data, and sharing specimen images with me. Terence Schiefer was extremely helpful with checking my keys and interpreting and finding locations on old specimen labels. I am also grateful to the many collectors who collected weevil specimens in Mississippi making this work possible. The staff at the Institute for Imaging and Analytical Technologies was very helpful with providing access to the scanning electron microscope as well. I would also like to acknowledge Kayla Whitehouse for her assistance and encouragement. This research was supported in part by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Hatch Project MIS-311260. The Bryant Mather Endowment in Mississippi State Foundation supported travel to visit collections. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................................................................ ii LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................vii LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................ viii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 Morphological Characters ............................................................................................. 4 Sclerolepidia............................................................................................................ 4 Prosternal Horns ...................................................................................................... 5 Prosternal Folds ....................................................................................................... 6 Mandible Morphology ............................................................................................. 6 Pygidium Position ................................................................................................... 7 Tarsal Claw Separation ............................................................................................ 8 II. METHODS .................................................................................................................. 9 III. RESULTS .................................................................................................................. 12 Species of Bariditae in Mississippi .............................................................................. 12 Key to the Genera of Bariditae in Mississippi .............................................................. 16 Amercedes Casey ........................................................................................................ 22 Amercedes subulirostris Casey .............................................................................. 23 Ampeloglypter LeConte ............................................................................................... 24 Key to species of Ampeloglypter in Mississippi ..................................................... 25 Ampeloglypter ampelopsis Riley ............................................................................ 25 Ampeloglypter longipennis Casey .......................................................................... 26 Apinocis Lea ............................................................................................................... 28 Key to species of Apinocis in Mississippi .............................................................. 29 Apinocis blanditus (Casey) .................................................................................... 29 Apinocis deplanatus (Casey) .................................................................................. 31 Apinocis planiusculus (Casey) ............................................................................... 33 Apinocis subnudus (Buchanan) .............................................................................. 34 Aulobaris LeConte ...................................................................................................... 36 Key to the species of Aulobaris in Mississippi ....................................................... 37 Aulobaris ibis (LeConte) ....................................................................................... 37 iii Aulobaris naso LeConte ........................................................................................ 38 Aulobaris pusilla (LeConte) .................................................................................. 41 Barilepis Casey ........................................................................................................... 43 Barilepis grisea (LeConte) .................................................................................... 44 Barinus Casey ............................................................................................................. 45 Key to the species of Barinus in Mississippi .......................................................... 46 Barinus curticollis Casey ....................................................................................... 47 Barinus elusus Blatchley ....................................................................................... 49 Barinus linearis (LeConte) .................................................................................... 50 Barinus species 1 ................................................................................................... 51 Baris Germar ............................................................................................................... 52 Key to the species of Baris in Mississippi .............................................................. 54 Baris aerea (Boheman).......................................................................................... 54 Baris confinis (LeConte) ........................................................................................ 56 Baris intacta Casey................................................................................................ 57 Baris interstitialis (Say) ......................................................................................... 58 Baris strenua (LeConte) ........................................................................................ 65 Baris umbilicata (LeConte) ................................................................................... 67 Buchananius Kissinger ................................................................................................ 69 Key to the species of Buchananius in Mississippi .................................................. 70 Buchananius striatus (LeConte) ............................................................................ 70 Buchananius sulcatus (LeConte) ........................................................................... 71 Centrinites Casey ........................................................................................................ 73 Centrinites strigicollis Casey ................................................................................