Identification of the Origins of Coniatus Spp., A Non-Native Weevil in Western North America
Zeynep Ozsoy1* and Madison Vincent1
1Colorado Mesa University, Grand Junction, CO 81501 USA; aozsoy@coloradomesa.edu, mvincent@mavs.coloradomesa.edu
Since 2006 small, non-native weevils belonging to the Coniatus genus have been sighted on tamarisk in North America. The weevil was identified as Coniatus splendidulus (Eckberg, 2011) based on its morphology. Although three other species of the Coniatus genus were studied as possible biological control agents for tamarisk none were intentionally released. The appearance of the weevil suggests an accidental introduction and brings up question about its origin, biology and effect on the tamarisk.
By using cytochrome oxidase 1 (CO1) gene sequence we have constructed a phylogenetic tree and have identified a likely source location. Furthermore, molecular data suggests that the phylogeny for the Coniatus genus may need to be reconstructed.