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Genus Sphenophorus - Billbugs
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 Dryophthorinae
Tribe Rhynchophorini
Subtribe Sphenophorina
Genus Sphenophorus (Billbugs)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes Calandra, Calendra
Explanation of Names Sphenophorus Schönherr 1838
Greek 'wedge-bearer'
Numbers 65 spp. in our area (1); selected local faunas: 20 spp. in Canada (2), 24 in SC (3), 25 in FL (4), 18 in CA (5), 11 in NH (6),...
Identification Only a small proportion of Sphenophorus have three clear-cut, bare, elevated stripes or ridges ( australis, cariosus, costicollis, costipennis, incongruus, latinasus, pertinax, robustus, robustior, and villosiventris) (7)
Range so. Canada to Argentina; also in the Old World (much fewer spp. there) (8)
Habitat Fields, wet areas, with host plants
Food associated with various monocots, incl. grasses (Poaceae) and sedges (Cyperaceae) (1)
Remarks some spp. damage turfgrass or corn (1); in NA, the following spp. have been reported to damage turfgrass: S. parvulus, S. minimus, S. venatus, S. inaequalis, S. phoeniciensis, S. cicatristriatus, S. coesifrons, S. apicalis (although many other spp. may occur alongside) ( Huang 2008)
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. |  |
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