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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Water, Rove, Scarab, Long-horned, Leaf and Snout Beetles (Polyphaga) » Series Cucujiformia » Snout and Bark Beetles (Curculionoidea) » Snout and Bark Beetles (Curculionidae) » Curculioninae » Flea Weevils (Rhamphini)

Tribe Rhamphini - Flea Weevils

Classification · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Identification · Range · Food · Print References · Works Cited

European Elm Flea Weevil - Orchestes steppensis

Weevil on black willow - Isochnus sequensi

Coleoptera (Little Wooly Mammoth) - Tachygonus lecontei

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Coleoptera (Beetles)

Suborder Polyphaga (Water, Rove, Scarab, Long-horned, Leaf and Snout Beetles)

No Taxon (Series Cucujiformia)

Superfamily Curculionoidea (Snout and Bark Beetles)

Family Curculionidae (Snout and Bark Beetles)

Subfamily Curculioninae

Tribe Rhamphini (Flea Weevils)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Rhynchaeninae

In older literature all the NA members of this group used to be treated in Rynchaenus Clairville 1798 (=Rhynchaenus), now considered to be an Old World genus

Explanation of Names

Rhamphini Rafinesque 1815

Numbers

15 spp. in 3 genera in our area(1), 15 genera total(2)

Genus Orchestes

alni (Linnaeus)

andersoni Alonzo-Zarazaga (=betuleti Horn nec Panzer)

fagi (Linnaeus)

griseus (Sleeper)

mixtus Blatchley

pallicornis Say (=canus auct. nec Horn, puberulus Boheman, uniformis Brown)

testaceus (Mueller) (=scutellaris Fabricius, canus Horn)

Genus Tachyerges

ephippiatus (Say)

niger (Horn) (=parvicollis LeConte, illinoisensis Fall)

salicis (Linnaeus) (=subhirtus Horn)

Genus Isochnus

arcticus (Korotyaev)

flagellum (Ericson)

goniophallus Anderson

rufipes (LeConte) [1 ssp. minutus Horn]

sequensi (Stierlin) (=populicola Silverberg) -- Canada, ne.US (adventive)

Identification

Most members feature enlarged hind femora, somewhat flattened body, and rather small head with large eyes and the snout pointing back.

Characteristics of genera adapted from Kojima (1997):

Antennal club ovate, each segment transverse; procoxae contiguous; femora not toothed. On Salicaeae .................................. Tachyerges

Head normal, rostrum perpendicular to the axis of body. Eyes more or less separated. Antennae inserted in rostrum, geniculate, scape much longer than 1st segment of funicle. Scutellum and lateral parts of meso- and metathorax densely covered with white plumose scales. Metafemora slightly swollen, with J-shaped apodeme. Procoxae contiguous. Ventrites 2-4 with posterior margins not straight at sides. .................... Isochnus

Pro- and mesotibiae each with a large sickle-shaped uncus near apex of dorsal edge, pro- and mesofemora often with denticle bearing a spine. Metafemora often with denticles bearing long setae or spine. Abdominal terga 5 and 6 with spicule patches, tergite 7 basally bilobed, each lobe with a plectral tubercle. Color variable. Rostrum received on breast in repose ............. Orchestes

Range

much of the world except the Neotropics(2), incl. most of NA(1)

Food

Associated usually with willow, elm, alder, apple, cherry, and birch trees; larvae mine leaves and adults feed on leaves and buds(3)

Print References

Anderson, R.S. 1989. Revision of the subfamily Rhynchaeninae in North America (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). Transactions of the American Entomological Society 115(3): 207-312.

Works Cited

1.	First record of Orchestes fagi (L.) in North America, with a checklist of the North Amercian Rhamphini Sweeney, J., R.S. Anderson, and R.P. Webster. 2012. The Coleopterists Bulletin, 66: 297-304.

2.	A world catalogue of families and genera of Curculionoidea (Insecta: Coleoptera) Alonso-Zarazaga M.A., Lyal C.H.C. 1999. Entomopraxis, Barcelona. 315 pp.

3.	Peterson Field Guides: Beetles Richard E. White. 1983. Houghton Mifflin Company.

Contributed by Phillip Harpootlian on 22 September, 2008 - 12:09pm
Additional contributions by Mike Quinn, ceiseman, v belov
Last updated 17 February, 2017 - 11:45am

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