Genus Zabrotes

Zabrotes Horn 1885

18 spp. in our area(1)

Most 1.0-2.5 mm, 1 sp. (amplissimus) reaches 3.7 mm (1)

Mostly sw. US to S. Amer. - Map(2), but 2 spp. (Z. arenarius & Z. subnitens) range east to NJ-FL, two more (Z. densus & Z. spectabilis) north to OR, and Z. subfasciatus is tropicopolitan (reportedly established in TX)(1)

Larval host plants are known for only a few Zabrotes species, and those are from genera like Phaseolus, Senna, Cassia, Vicia and Rhynchosia...all in the Pea Family (Fabaceae). Adults have been seen on and swept from flowers & foliage of plants from many diverse families, but the associations are often incidental and not necessarily indicative of a larval host relationship.(1)

The larvae consume host plant seed, within which they live.(1)

Our only representative of the subtribe Spermophagina Borowiec 1987

Kingsolver, J. (1990). Biosystematics of the genus of Zabrotes of America North of Mexico (Coleoptera: Bruchidae). Trans. Am. Entomol. Soc., 116(1), 135-174. (3)

Romero, J., & Johnson, C. (2000). Revision of the genus Zabrotes Horn of Mexico (Coleoptera: Bruchidae: Amblycerinae). Trans. Am. Entomol. Soc., 126(2), 221-274. (4)

Romero-Nápoles, J.R., J.M. Kingsolver, & E.M. Gómez (2011). New distribution and host records for the genus Zabrotes Horn (Coleoptera: Bruchidae), The Coleopterists Bulletin, 65(3), 294-296. (5)