Data from: The evolutionary history of the ancient weevil family Belidae (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea) reveals the marks of Gondwana breakup and major floristic turnovers, including the rise of angiosperms

The rise of angiosperms to ecological dominance and the breakup of
Gondwana during the Mesozoic marked major transitions in the evolutionary
history of insect-plant interactions. To elucidate how contemporary
trophic interactions were influenced by host plant shifts and
palaeogeographical events, we integrated molecular data with information
from the fossil record to construct a timetree for ancient phytophagous
weevils of the beetle family Belidae. Our analyses indicate that
crown-group Belidae originated approximately 138 Ma ago in Gondwana,
associated with Pinopsida (conifer) host plants, with larvae likely
developing in dead/decaying branches. Belids tracked their host plants as
major plate movements occurred during Gondwana’s breakup, surviving on
distant, disjunct landmasses. Some belids shifted to Angiospermae and
Cycadopsida when and where conifers declined, evolving new trophic
interactions, including brood-pollination mutualisms with cycads and
associations with achlorophyllous parasitic angiosperms. Extant radiations
of belids in the genera Rhinotia (Australian region) and Proterhinus
(Hawaiian Islands) have relatively recent origins.