Morphology, molecules, and Mimeoma scarabs: Evolutionary and ecological implications for a palm-associated scarab group (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae)

Cyclocephaline scarabs are important pollinators of early-diverging angiosperm families in the tropics. The evolutionary history of cyclocephaline genera is poorly resolved and several genera are thought to be non-monophyletic. We assess the monophyly of Mimeoma, a group of Neotropical palm-associated cyclocephalines, with a phylogenetic analysis of 2866 bp of DNA sequence data and 18 morphological characters. All five species of Mimeoma were included in analyses along with species of Cyclocephala, Dyscinetus, and Tomarus as outgroup taxa. Analyses show that Mimeoma species do not form a monophyletic group, and combined data show that Mimeoma species are nested within a Cyclocephala sub-clade. Our analyses provide the first empirical support that host plant associations within cyclocephaline scarab clades are conserved at the plant family-level.