Bioacoustics of Melolonthini

However, the monophyly of the Melolonthinae and the status of its tribes and subtribes has been questioned ( Ahrens 2006 ; Coca-Abia 2007 ), especially with the advent of DNA technologies ( Smith et al. 2006 ; Song & Zhang 2018 ; Ayivi et al. 2021 ). A radical alternative classification has been that of Lacroix (2021a) . He, albeit with little commentary, split the subfamily in four and elevated these to family level (Hopliidae, Melolonthidae , Sericidae, Chasmatopteridae), whilst elevating previous tribes and subtribes to subfamily or tribe status. Other alternative classifications have seen subtribes of the Melolonthini (Smith 2006; Bouchard et al. 2011 ) elevated to tribes ( Lacroix 2010 , 2021b ; Bezděk 2016 ; Evans & Smith 2020 ). Lacroix (2010) moved some of the African genera formerly in Melolonthini to the Leucophilini, and Bezděk (2016) followed this for the Palaearctic Lepidiota species. Recently, Lacroix (2021b) placed the Australian Lepidiota species , Holorhopaea Britton, 1978 (1 species), and Nanorhopaea Britton, 1978 (1 species) in the Leucophilini, with the other Australian genera (presumably including Alepida Allsopp, 2018 and the Fijian-Solomon Islands Xenotrogus Britton, 1978 ) remaining in the Melolonthini (Melolonthini sensu Lacroix 2021b ) . Lacroix (2021b) characterised the Leucophilini as having antennal clubs of three lamellae that are similar in both sexes and large metepisterna, whilst the Melolonthini sensu Lacroix 2021b have antennal clubs of more than three lamellae with pronounced sexual dimorphism and the dorsal surface of the body with scales and/or setae. Australian Lepidiota species (as restricted with the removal of Alepida species ( Allsopp 2018 ) and those earlier in this paper) are obviously different from other Australian Melolonthini sensu Britton 1978 . Weir et al. (2019) showed this clearly in their key to genera, where Lepidiota is separated from other genera in couplet 1. Prominent identifiers are a combination of: dorsal surface with small, white scales contained or nearly contained within their punctures, without longer white or brown, adpressed or erect setae; antennal club of three lamellae with no obvious sexual dimorphism ( Allsopp 1990b gives an example); females often found in collections and adults may feed; and males of most species with parameres asymmetrical and often bizarrely shaped (see figures in Britton 1978 ). This was reinforced in a cladistic analysis of a sample of Melolonthini sensu Britton 1978 from eastern Australia using adult and larval morphological and ecological characters ( Allsopp & Lambkin 2006 ) where the 10 Lepidiota species that were considered formed a clade separate from species in Antitrogus , Rhopaea , Dermolepida Arrow, 1941 and Alepida . The genera assigned to Melolonthini sensu Lacroix 2021b have: setae ( Figs 2–6 , 14–18 ), not scales, on the dorsal surface; antennal clubs with 3–8 lamellae and, where known, females have much smaller clubs than males ( Britton 1978 : fig. 150; Allsopp 1990b ); females of most species are rare in collections, probably fly little after emergence and are not attracted to light, and adults of both sexes do not feed (the exception are Dermolepida species ); and males have parameres that are symmetrical or nearly so.