Barcoding pest species in a biodiversity hot-spot: the South African polyphagous broad-nosed weevils (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Entiminae)

Polyphagous broad nosed weevils (Curculionidae: Entiminae) constitute a large and taxonomically challenging subfamily that contains economically significant agricultural pests worldwide. South Africa is a hot-spot for biodiversity and several species of indigenous and endemic genera of Entiminae have shifted onto cultivated plants, with some being phytosanitary pests. The sporadic nature of many species, and the presence of pest complexes and cryptic species presents an identification challenge to non-specialists. Furthermore no comprehensive identification tools to identify immature stages that may be found in crops/soil exist. In this paper a curated barcoding database with 70 COI sequences from 41 species (39 Entiminae, 2 Cyclominae) is initiated, to assist with the complexity of identification of species in this group.