Electrophoretic and morphometric analyses of two sibling species pairs in Trachyphloeus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

Misidentified specimens of Trachyphloeus bifoveolatus (Beck, 1817), T. angustisetulus Hansen, 1915, T. spinimanus Germar, 1824 and T. digitalis (Gyllenhal, 1827) are very frequent in weevil collections and reflect the ambiguous taxonomic status of some of these taxa. The taxonomie problems are a result of (1) sole use of traditional morphological differences, (2) the weevils’ assumed parthenogenetic reproduction which prevents the use of Mayr’s species concept, and (3) lack of information about their biology and genetics. Our present electrophoretic, morphometric and morphological analyses of live and dry-mounted samples of females from north and west Europe indicate that the four taxa are each genetically and morphologically distinct species. New keys which permit easy and reliable identification of the species are provided.