A survey of the conoderine weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) of Panama with notes on their behavior, natural history, and taxonomy

The weevil subfamily Conoderinae is among the larger groups of Curculionidae with nearly 2,000 described species worldwide. Almost half of that diversity is found in the Neotropics. Extensive collections from Panama have shown that hundreds of species of conoderine weevils remain to be described, and that many of the 28 generic concepts need to be ammended to accomodate such diversity; only four of the smaller genera have been the subject of taxonomic revisions in the past century. Using fresh material collected in Panama and examining museum collections of Panamanian conoderines, the first steps towards achieving a phylogenetic classification of Conoderinae was made, along with an interactive identification key to Panamanian conoderine genera and the preliminary results of genus-level taxonomic revisions.