Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Polyphaga » Series Cucujiformia » Curculionoidea » Snout and Bark Beetles (Curculionidae) » Dryophthorinae » Rhynchophorini » Sphenophorina » Billbugs (Sphenophorus)

Genus Sphenophorus - Billbugs

Garden Visitor - Sphenophorus coesifrons

Can anyone identify this weevil? - Sphenophorus phoeniciensis

striped snout weevil - Sphenophorus aequalis

Billbug Beetle - Lateral - Sphenophorus coesifrons

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Coleoptera (Beetles)

Suborder Polyphaga

No Taxon (Series Cucujiformia)

Superfamily Curculionoidea

Family Curculionidae (Snout and Bark Beetles)

Subfamily Dryophthorinae

Tribe Rhynchophorini

Subtribe Sphenophorina

Genus Sphenophorus (Billbugs)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Calandra, Calendra

Explanation of Names

Sphenophorus Schönherr 1838

Greek 'wedge-bearer'

Numbers

65 spp. in our area(1); selected local faunas: 20 spp. in Canada(2), 24 in SC(3), 25 in FL(4), 18 in CA(5), 11 in NH(6),...

Identification

Key to spp. in(7)

Only a small proportion of Sphenophorus have three clear-cut, bare, elevated stripes or ridges (australis, cariosus, costicollis, costipennis, incongruus, latinasus, pertinax, robustus, robustior, and villosiventris)(7)

Range

so. Canada to Argentina; also in the Old World (much fewer spp. there)(8)

Habitat

Fields, wet areas, with host plants

Food

associated with various monocots, incl. grasses (Poaceae) and sedges (Cyperaceae)(1)

Remarks

some spp. damage turfgrass or corn(1); in NA, the following spp. have been reported to damage turfgrass: S. parvulus, S. minimus, S. venatus, S. inaequalis, S. phoeniciensis, S. cicatristriatus, S. coesifrons, S. apicalis (although many other spp. may occur alongside) (Huang 2008)

Works Cited

1.	American Beetles, Volume II: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea Arnett, R.H., Jr., M. C. Thomas, P. E. Skelley and J. H. Frank. (eds.). 2002. CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL.

2.	Bousquet Y., ed. (1991) Checklist of the beetles of Canada and Alaska

3.	Weevils of South Carolina (Coleoptera: Nemonychidae, Attelabidae, Brentidae, Ithyceridae, and Curculionidae). Janet C. Ciegler. 2010. Clemson University, Clemson, S.C. 276 pp.

4.	A Distributional Checklist of the Beetles (Coleoptera) of Florida

5.	California Beetle Project

6.	University of New Hampshire Insect and Arachnid Collections

7.	Revision of the genus Calendra (formerly Sphenophorus) in the United States and Mexico (Coleoptera, Curculionidae) Vaurie, Patricia. 1951. American Museum of Natural History.

8.	A catalog of Coleoptera of America north of Mexico. Curculionidae: Rhynchophorinae Vaurie P. 1983. USDA handbook no. 529-143a. x+28 pp.

Contributed by Cotinis on 17 November, 2004 - 6:28pm
Additional contributions by Chuck Entz, Mike Quinn, v belov, onegunah
Last updated 15 September, 2017 - 6:59pm

Disclaimer: Dedicated naturalists volunteer their time and resources here to provide this service. We strive to provide accurate information, but we are mostly just amateurs attempting to make sense of a diverse natural world. If you need expert professional advice, contact your local extension office.

Contributors own the copyright to and are solely responsible for contributed content.
Click the contributor's name for licensing and usage information.
Everything else copyright © 2003-2024 Iowa State University, unless otherwise noted.

Bugguide is hosted by: