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Genus Sitophilus - Granary Weevils

Dryophthorine weevil - Sitophilus zeamais

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

Genus Sitophilus (Granary Weevils)

Explanation of Names

Sitophilus Schönherr 1838

Greek sitos (σιτος) 'grain' + philos (φιλος) 'loving'(1)

Numbers

5 spp. in our area, all adventive(2)

Size

2-5 mm

Identification

S. oryzae and S. zeamais, the two cosmopolitan spp. with maculate elytra, may be very hard to tell apart, and may form mixed infestations; S. oryzae are often smaller & paler than S. zeamais(3)

Range

worldwide and throughout NA(2)

Habitat

mostly indoors, but may infest grain in the field(3)

Life Cycle

Adults may live four to five months

Remarks

S. granarius (Grain Weevil), S. oryzae (Rice Weevil), and S. zeamais (Maize Weevil) are serious stored product pests(2); S. linearis (Tamarind Weevil) is a serious pest of tamarind in the Caribbean and se. US (FL, LA)(4)

n. India has more described species of Sitophilus that any other part of the world; most develop on acorns and are rather large (the small size of the current grain-feeding spp. may be a result of recent adaptation)(5)

Works Cited

1.	Composition of scientific words Brown R.W. 1956. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC. 882 pp.

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.	Insect and Mite Pests in Food, an Illustrated Key J. Richard Gorham, editor. 1991. United States Department of Agriculture Handbook 655.

4.	Haseeb M., O'Brien C.W., Kairo M.T.K. (2010) Potentially invasive weevil species from the Caribbean countries to the US...

5.	Handbook of urban insects and arachnids: A handbook of urban entomology Robinson W.H. 2005. Cambridge University Press.

Contributed by Eric R. Eaton on 13 February, 2006 - 4:44pm
Additional contributions by Chuck Entz, Mike Quinn, v belov
Last updated 26 March, 2019 - 12:15pm

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