Conoderinae
EOL Text
Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) Stats
Specimen Records:142
Specimens with Sequences:103
Specimens with Barcodes:81
Species:16
Species With Barcodes:12
Public Records:41
Public Species:5
Public BINs:1
Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) Stats
Specimen Records:632
Specimens with Sequences:379
Specimens with Barcodes:229
Species:67
Species With Barcodes:39
Public Records:87
Public Species:7
Public BINs:9
Baridinae is a subfamily of true weevils (Curculionidae). It was established by Carl Johan Schönherr in 1836. Some 4,300 species in 550 genera are placed here, most of which occur in the New World.[1] A few are economically significant pests, while others are in turn used for biocontrol of invasive plant pests. This subfamily also contains a few endangered species.
Description and ecology[edit]
Baridinae are typically small to mid-sized short-legged weevils, with a characteristic round or ball-like shape.[2] Usually colored black all over at least on the upperside, they are neither highly glossy or metallic, nor dull, but moderately shiny, like polished leather. Some have small dots or bands of lighter scales that can be rubbed off, in particular on the elytrae; yet again others are dusted with an irregular sprinkling of such scales. The elytrae are often decorated with neat lengthwise rows of small pits.
The pronotum is not highly arched and may be outright flattened; it has rounded corners and it is about as wide as the elytrae. The rostrum ("snout") is long, markedly curved, and directed more or less straight downwards. The antenna attach near the tip of the rostrum; they are bent in the center and have a knop at the tip, as in other true weevils. The proximal antenna segment is stick-shaped. There are 12 antennal segments.
These weevils feed on plants as larvae and imagines, mainly on the green parts. The larvae are often stem borers. Their foodplants can be found almost all over the Mesangiospermae; they are often of the cabbage family (Brassicaceae), e.g. cabbages (Brassica napus cultivars) and Rapeseed (B. oleracea). Another type of foodplant are mignonettes (Reseda), Resedaceae and thus close relatives of the Brassicaceae. Acuthopeus cocciniae is used for biocontrol of Ivory Gourd (Coccinia grandis), a Cucurbitaceae which belongs to a lineage of rosids well distant from the Brassicaceae. Some Baridinae are found on Helianthus (typical sunflowers) of the Asteraceae, which are asterid eudicots quite unrelated to the cabbage family. And Orchidophilus is particular to Epidendroideae orchids – especially Dendrobium and Phalaenopsis –, which are monocots and thus even more distant relatives of the usual Baridinae foodplants.
Systematics[edit]
This subfamily is divided into the includes the following tribes (some notable genera are also listed):
Eremobaris picturata (Baridini)
- Baridini Schönherr, 1839
- Baris Germar, 1817
- Madarini
- Acythopeus
- Eumycterus Schönherr, 1838
- Orchidophilus Buchanan, 1935
- Madopterini
- Limnobaris Bedel, 1885
- Nertinini
- Optatini
- Pantotelini
- Peridinetini
Similar to the Molytinae, the Baridinae are sometimes circumscribed in a narrow sense like here, and sometimes more widely, with several otherwise independent weevil subfamilies being included as "tribus groups" in the Baridinae. These taxa included in the Baridinae sensu lato are the Ceutorhynchinae, Conoderinae, Orobitidinae and Xiphaspidinae.
References[edit]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Baridinae. |
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Wikispecies has information related to: Baridinae |
- ^ Morimoto, Katsura and Yoshihara, Kazumi. "On the Genera of the Oriental Baridinae (Coleoptera, Curculionidae)". Esakia, (36): l-59. January 31, 1996.
- ^ Davis, Steven R. "Curculionidae)". University of Kansas, 2008. 464 pages.
- This article draws heavily on the corresponding article in the Bokmål Wikipedia, accessed in the version of 18 September 2008.
| License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ |
| Rights holder/Author | Wikipedia |
| Source | http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Baridinae&oldid=611864677 |
Conoderinae is a subfamily of weevils (Curculionidae), previously known as Zygopinae (Alonso-Zarazaga and Lyal 1999, as cited in Kojima and Lyal 2002). One of the largest weevil subfamilies, it has a worldwide distribution of about 1500 species in 200 genera, and is especially abundant in the tropics. While this group contains species with behaviors and morphologies of much interest to beetle systematists, the Conoderinae have not been examined phylogenetically, and the relationships among the genera are unknown. It is sometimes considered as part of the Baridinae.
Weevils in the Conoderinae are plant eaters, and often live on dead wood or leaves. A good number are agricultural pests of important crop species but because the weevil groups are so speciose and taxonomically complicated, and the weevils themselves are often very small in size and not systematically collected, many have not been described even though they may have economic impact (for example, see Hespenheide 2005).
The Conoderinae are characterized by large eyes. Some conoderine species are noted for sexual dimorphism, such as thoracic spines in males, which are used in intra-specific competition for females (Lyal 1986; Kojima and Lyal 2002).
Many species of conoderin weevils use bright and distinctive coloration for predator avoidance, and Hespenheide estimates that nearly 20% of conoderin species in Central America are involved in mimicry systems with ant, bees, other beetles and, most commonly, flies in families Tachinidae, Muscidae, Tabanidae and Sarcophagidae, which have red eyes (as cited in Vanin and Guerra 2012). As well as thoracic coloration patterns suggestive of fly-like red eyes and transparent wing-like coloration and texturing on their abdomens, the weevils mimic fly-like behaviors such as fast, jerky movements and leg rubbing. Fly mimicry in weevils was first described by Hespenheide in 1973, who suggests the weevils trick their predators into thinking they are too fast and agile to capture, instead of mimicking unpalatable species in traditional Mullerian mimicry complexes. This “evasive mimicry” however, is controversial in the literature and not yet tested in the field (Ruxton et al. 2004).
| License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
| Rights holder/Author | Dana Campbell, Dana Campbell |
| Source | No source database. |