Publication Date
Summer 2017
Advisor(s) - Committee Chair
Keith Philips (Director), Albert Meier, and Scott Grubbs
Degree Program
Department of Biology
Degree Type
Master of Science
Abstract
Sub-Saharan Africa is home to nine described species of Dignomus Wollaston, 1862. Study and dissection of specimens has led me to the hypothesis that there are nine undocumented species in this region. Descriptions and images of the new species are presented and discussed, along with a compiled list of all described species from the Sub- Saharan region. The probable biology as geographic distributions for members of the genus are also given.
Additionally, a phylogenetic analysis of 95 species of bostrichoids using CO1 molecular data was done with a focus on the origins of Dignomus and Pseudomezium. parsimony and bayesian analyses were run, the later providing evidence that Pseudomezium derived genus of Dignomus. Support was also found for a monophyletic Ptininae (i.e., the spider beetles) but not for the bostrichids, and anobiids. More data will be needed to clarify the relationships among the taxa of Bostrichoidea.
Disciplines
Biology | Ecology and Evolutionary Biology | Entomology
Recommended Citation
Smith, Amelia LesBeth, "Review of the Sub-Saharan Africa Species of Dignomus and Phylogenetic Analysis of the Bostrichoids (Coleoptera: Bostrichoidea: Ptinidae)" (2017). Masters Theses & Specialist Projects. Paper 2027.
https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/2027