Brentidae
Brentidae | |
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A brentid from the Western Ghats | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Coleoptera |
Suborder: | Polyphaga |
Infraorder: | Cucujiformia |
Superfamily: | Curculionoidea |
Family: | Brentidae Billberg, 1820 |
subfamilies | |
Apioninae |
Brentidae is a cosmopolitan family of primarily xylophagous beetles also known as straight-snouted weevils. The concept of this family has been recently expanded with the inclusion of three groups formerly placed in the Curculionidae; the subfamilies Apioninae, Cyladinae, and Nanophyinae, as well as the Ithycerinae, previously considered a separate family. They are most diverse in the tropics, but occur throughout the temperate regions of the world. They are among the families of weevils that have non-elbowed antennae, and tend to be elongate and flattened, though there are numerous exceptions.
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The subfamilial classification of the family has been reorganized by several different authors within the last 20 years, and is not yet stable; the most recent, and conservative, classification (Oberprieler et al., 2007) accepts only 6 subfamilies, with many familiar subfamilial taxa (e.g., Antliarhininae, Cyladinae, Cyphagoginae, Myrmacicelinae and Trachelizinae) now relegated to tribal groups, primarily within the subfamily Brentinae.
References
- Oberprieler, R. G.; Marvaldi, A. E.; Anderson, R. S. 2007: Weevils, weevils, weevils everywhere. Pp. 491-520 in: Zhang, Z.-Q. & Shear, W. A. (Eds) Linnaeus tercentenary: progress in invertebrate taxonomy. Zootaxa, 1668: 1–766.
External links
- Images of Brentidae species found in New Zealand
- Brentinae - primitive Weevils of Florida on the University of Florida / Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Featured Creatures website
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Data related to Brentidae at Wikispecies