The genus Schevodera Borchmann: Phylogeny and historical biogeography, with description of a new species (Coleoptera : Tenebrionidae : Lagriinae)

Schevodera Borchmann belongs to the subfamily Lagriinae and its members are phytophagous. A new species, S. glabricollis is described from China. Rede scriptions of the genus and two known species, S. gracilicornis and S. infl ata with new records for China are given. A key to Chinese species is given . The phylogeny of the nine known species and one subspecies is cladistical ly analysed based on 21 morphological characters from adults. The confidenc e of the phylogram obtained from the cladistic analysis and its mono-phylie s are examined with PTP and T-PTP tests. The ancestral distribution of the genus is also reconstructed based on the dispersal-vicariance analysis. The results suggest that the genus would be monophyletic. In the late Permian - late Triassic period around 255-220 million years ago, it is hypothesized to have originated from a Lagria-like ancestral species between western Yu nnan, China and Burma in the Shan-Thai terrain. It dispersed from western Y unnan and northern Burma to Sumatra and Java, and then northward through Bo rneo to Palawan, Luzon and finally Mindanao. Based on phylogeny and histori c biogeography, the genus is divided into three species groups: Yunnan, Ind onesia and Philippines groups. The Yunnan group is the most primitive, cons isting of S. inflata, S. glabricollis and S. gracilicornis, and is mainly d istributed in Yunnan and Burma. The Indonesia group includes S. hirticollis and S. hirticollis salvazai, S. curticollis and S. dohria, and occurs prim arily in Indonesia but also reaches into Burma and the Philippines. The S. hirticollis salvazai has dispersed from Burma to Laos. The group originated from the ancestor of Yunnan group after Ecocene, i.e. no longer than 50 mi llion years ago. The monophyletic Philippines group is composed of three en demic species: S. setosa, S. spoliata and S. insularis. It originated from the ancestor of the Indonesian group after the Miocene around 20 million ye ars ago and dispersed from Palawan to Luzon and then Mindanao. The synapomo rphies between these groups, interspecific phylogenetic relationships, time and place of origin and potential distribution of each species are also di scussed in detail.