Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Polyphaga » Series Cucujiformia » Curculionoidea » Snout and Bark Beetles (Curculionidae) » Curculioninae » Mecinini » Rhinusa » Rhinusa tetra

Species Rhinusa tetra

the cutest weevil, dorsal - Rhinusa tetra

Curculionidae - Rhinusa tetra - European curculionid weevil? - Rhinusa tetra

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 Curculioninae

Tribe Mecinini

Genus Rhinusa

Species tetra (Rhinusa tetra)

Other Common Names

Mullein Weevil

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Gymnetron tetrum, Cleopomiarus tetrum

Explanation of Names

Rhinusa tetra (Fabricius 1792)

Size

2.0‒4.5 mm(1)

Identification

more stout than other NA spp.; posterior margin of pronotum more than twice as wide as anterior margin

Range

native to, and widespread across, the Palaearctic(1), adventive and now widespread in NA (BC‒CA to ME‒GA)(2)

Food

larvae mine stems of Verbascum; adults also on Scrophularia(1)

also commonly feeds on stems of Asclepias syriaca(3)

Remarks

released to combat common mullein before 1916(4)

Works Cited

1.	Rhinusa Stephens: a taxonomic revision of the species belonging to the R. tetra and R. bipustulata groups (Coleoptera Curculi... Caldara, Roberto. 2014. Journal of Insect Biodiversity 2(19): 1-46.

2.	Annotated checklist of the weevils (Curculionidae sensu lato) of North America, Central America, and the West Indies... O'Brien C.W., Wibmer G.J. 1982. Mem. Am. Ent. Inst. 34: x+382 pp.

3.	Survey of Coleoptera collected on the common milkweed, Asclepias syriaca, at one site in Ohio Dailey, P.J., R.C. Graves and J.M. Kingsolver. 1978. The Coleopterists Bulletin, 32(3): 223-229.

4.	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 Tony DiTerlizzi on 12 May, 2006 - 3:02pm
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, Phillip Harpootlian, tom murray, Mike Quinn, Boris Bueche, v belov
Last updated 28 August, 2023 - 8:35pm

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