Identity of the groundnut and tamarind seed-beetles (Coleoptera: Bruchidae: Pachymerinae), with the restoration of Caryedon gonagra (F.)

The study of seed-beetles feeding on groundnuts (Arachis hypogaea), tamarind (Tamarindus indica) and other Caesalpinioideae from various areas of the Old World, enables the authors to characterize two different species of Caryedon that are usually confused. C. serratus (Ol.), usually known as the «groundnut seed-beetle», feeds on seeds of tamarind and various wild Caesalpinioideae in the genera Piliostigma, Cassia and Bauhinia. It is present in West and Central Africa. Detailed morphological studies associated with the analysis of part of the Cytochrome B gene show that another species, Caryedon gonagra, infests tamarind and other Caesalpinioideae in Egypt, South Asia, Australia and New Caledonia; this species also feeds in the seeds of a few Mimosoideae in the genera Acacia, Albizia and Dichrostachys. Caryedon gonagra and C. serratus appear as sister species deriving from an ancestor that may have fed on both Mimosoideae and Caesalpinioideae. Contrary to what happens in C. serratus, it seems that C. gonagra does not infest groundnuts under natural conditions. Larval development in groundnuts under laboratory conditions is however possible, as in several other Caryedon species. © 2003 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.