Synopsis and cladistics of the American aterpini (Coleoptera : Curculionidae, Cyclominae)

The American members of the tribe Aterpini are restricted to the Central Ch ilean and Subantarctic biogeographic subregions of southern South America. They include the genera Alastoropolus Kuschel, with one species (A. strumos us), and Aegorhinus Erichson ( = Micropolus Kuschel, syn. n.), with 22 spec ies. A cladistic analysis using 44 characters from external morphology prod uced 14 cladograms (CI = 0.39, RI = 0.62, and 177 steps, which after succes sive weighting were reduced to two cladograms (CI = 0.63, RI = 0.84, and 32 6 steps). Alastoropolus is the sister genus to Aegorhinus, whose species ar e arranged according to the following phylogenetic sequence: (A. fascicular is, (A. kuscheli, (A. delfini comb. n., (A. servillei; ((A. vitulus, A. bul bifer), (A. silvicola, A. nitens, ((A. inermis, (A. oculatus, (A. opaculus, (A. nodipennis, A. ochreolus)))), (A. transandinus, CA. maestus, (A. phale ratus, (A. boviei, (A. superciliosus, (A. subplanifrons, (A. schoenherri, ( A. albolineatus, A. suturalis))))))))))))))). A key and habitus drawings ar e provided. Biogeographic patterns exhibited by species of American Aterpin i indicate that they are basically restricted to the Maule and Valdivian pr ovinces of the Subantarctic subregion, with three species (A. strumosus, A. delfini, and A. vitulus) also found in the Magellanic forest province of t he same subregion, and two species (A. boviei and A. phaleratus) distribute d in the Central Chilean subregion.