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National Moth Week was July 19-27, and the Summer 2025 gathering in Louisiana, July 19-27

Photos of insects and people from the 2024 BugGuide gathering in Idaho July 24-27

Moth submissions from National Moth Week 2024

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Subfamily Entiminae - Broad-nosed Weevils

Representative Images

beetle - Phyllobius oblongus little black & brown beetle - Strophosoma melanogrammum Human Habitation 4 - Naupactus leucoloma Entiminae? - Minyomerus laticeps Barypeithes pellucidus Golden headed Weevil - Compsus auricephalus Broad-nosed Weevil - Neoptochus adspersus Rough Strawberry Root Weevil - Otiorhynchus rugosostriatus

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 Entiminae (Broad-nosed Weevils)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Brachyderinae, Leptopiinae, Otiorhynchinae, Tanymecinae, Thylacitinae

Explanation of Names

Entiminae Schönherr 1823

Numbers

the most diverse weevil subfamily in NA, with 124 genera in 23 tribes represented (hundreds of spp.)(1)(2); nearly 14,000 spp. in 1,370 genera of 54 tribes worldwide(3)

Identification

Rostrum (snout) at most about two times as long as wide, often considerably shorter. NB: members of other subfamilies (esp. Cossoninae, Scolytinae, and Lixinae) may have short snouts!
Antennae inserted dorsally (then diagnostic), or laterally. The first antennomere usually reaches or surpasses eyes when laid backwards (a rare case in other subfamilies)
Apical excision of the rostrum completely covered by the mentum, no submentum present (the defining character of the group, but only visible in a ventral view)
A quick pictorial guide here

Food

tend to be polyphagous herbivores

Life Cycle

Larvae generally live in soil and feed on roots. Eggs are dropped, laid on soil under plant, but never into plant tissues. Many spp. are parthenogenetic (several such lineages within the subfamily).

Remarks

both the polyphagy and parthenogenesis greatly facilitate introduction/establishment of alien species -- see(4)
forms a distinctive clade with Cyclominae & Hyperinae(5)

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.Insects and Arachnids of Canada Series, Part 25. Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Entiminae.
Donald E. Bright, Patrice Bouchard. 2008. 2008. NRC Research Press, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
3.Family-group names in Coleoptera (Insecta)
Bouchard P, Bousquet Y, Davies A, Alonso-Zarazaga M, Lawrence JF, Lyal CH, Newton A, Reid CA, Schmitt M, Ślipiński SA, Smith A. 2011. ZooKeys 88: 1–972.
4.List of non-native arthropods in North America. Part II
5.Bulk de novo mitogenome assembly from pooled total DNA elucidates the phylogeny of weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea)
Gillett C.P.D.T., Crampton-Platt A., Timmermans M.J.T.N., Jordal B.H., Emerson B.C., Vogler A.P. 2014. Mol. Biol. Evol. 31: 2223-2237.
Contributed by tom murray on 2 July, 2005 - 5:48pm
Additional contributions by Robin McLeod, Phillip Harpootlian, Boris Bueche, v belov
Last updated 6 October, 2023 - 12:39pm

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