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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Polyphaga » Series Cucujiformia » Curculionoidea » Snout and Bark Beetles (Curculionidae) » Lixinae » Cylindrical Weevils (Cleonini) » Cleonis » Large Thistle Weevil (Cleonis pigra)

Species Cleonis pigra - Large Thistle Weevil

Classification · Other Common Names · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Food · Life Cycle · Remarks · Works Cited

canada thistle bud weevil? - Cleonis pigra

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 Lixinae

Tribe Cleonini (Cylindrical Weevils)

Genus Cleonis

Species pigra (Large Thistle Weevil)

Other Common Names

Sluggish Weevil

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Cleonus piger, Cleonis pigra

Explanation of Names

Cleonis pigra (Scopoli 1763)

Size

♂ 7.5-13.4 mm, ♀ 11.4-14.8 mm(1)

Identification

Elytra with double V-pattern. Rostrum with three sulci. Freshly emerged specimens covered with yellow, dusty secretion.

Range

native to the Palaearctic (common across Eurasia), adventive in NA (se.Canada & ne.US)(2)

Habitat

farmlands, meadows

Food

hosts: various Asteraceae, incl. (within the native range) thistle (Cirsium), plumeless thistle (Carduus), Lesser Burdock (Arctium minus), Diffuse Knapweed (Centaurea diffusa), Bull Cottonthistle (Onopordum tauricum)(3)

Life Cycle

Larvae feed on roots and rhizomes

Remarks

introduced into NA prior to 1919(1)

larvae parasitized by Acaenitus dubitator (Ichneumonidae) (Shaw & Wahl 1989)

Works Cited

1.	Systematics, phylogeny and biogeography of New World weevils traditionally of the tribe Cleonini (Col.: Curculionidae:Cleoninae) Anderson R.S. (1988). 1987. Quaest. Entomol. 23: 431‒709.

2.	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.

3.	Wild plants and their associated insects in the Palearctic Region, primarily Europe and the Middle East Campobasso G., Colonnelli E., Knutson L., Terragitti G., Cristofaro M., eds. 1999. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, ARS–147.

Contributed by Boris Büche on 29 March, 2007 - 10:03am
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, Robin McLeod, Mike Quinn, v belov
Last updated 13 February, 2025 - 8:15pm

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