Resolution of a global mango and fig pest identity crisis

Hypocryphalus Hopkins, 1915 and Cryphalus Erichson, 1836 (Curculionidae: Scolytinae: Cryphalini) are significant pests of fig, mango, and other economically important fruit trees, yet have received little attention from systematists. An integrated approach using molecular and morphological evidence resolved the identities of the species feeding on mango and fig. The following taxonomic changes are proposed: Hypocryphalus mangiferae (Stebbing, 1914), stat. rev.; Hypocryphalus dilutus (Eichhoff, 1878a), stat. rev. (=Cryphalus dilutusEichhoff, 1878b, syn. n.); Hypocryphalus discretus (Eichhoff, 1878a), stat. rev. (=Cryphalus discretusEichhoff, 1878b, syn. n.; Cryphalus scabricollisEichhoff, 1878b, syn. n.; Cryphalus brevisetosus Schedl, 1943, syn. n.). We identified widespread misidentification of specimens of Hypocryphalus from mango. The pest of mango trees in Oman, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Mexico, and putatively the vector of the pathogen responsible for mango wilt, is H. dilutus, a resurrected species. The pest of figs in the Mediterranean is also H. dilutus, but a distinct genetic lineage. The globally distributed but seemingly harmless mango bark beetle is H. mangiferae: a genetically complex species in its region of origin, with a single haplotype on mango trees outside the native range. We provide DNA sequences and describe novel morphological characters for identification of these species.