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

Species Sphenophorus zeae - Timothy Billbug

Clay-coloured Billbug (Sphenophorus aequalis) ? - Sphenophorus zeae

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)

Species zeae (Timothy Billbug)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

=blatchleyi Chittenden

Explanation of Names

Sphenophorus zeae Walsh 1867

Identification

very large punctures along striae of elytra; beak humped at base

Range

se. Canada and most of the US, except the northwest: NS-FL west to ON-ND-CO-CA(1)(2)(3)

Habitat

coastal salt-spray barrens, pinelands, hay fields, corn fields

Food

Timothy (Phleum pratense), Kentucky Bluegrass (Poa pratensis)(2)

See Also

S. australis lacks large punctures along striae of elytra, and beak not humped at base

Works Cited

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

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

3.	The weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea) of the Maritime Provinces of Canada, II: New records from Nova Scotia... C.G. Majka, R.S. Anderson, & D.B. McCorquodale. 2007. The Canadian Entomologist 139: 397–442.

Contributed by Robin McLeod on 18 June, 2008 - 11:45pm
Additional contributions by v belov
Last updated 31 May, 2012 - 9:26pm

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