British insects: the families of Coleoptera
British insects: the families of Coleoptera | |
~Chrysomelidae.
Seed-weevils.
General appearance. 2–5 mm long. Body length/maximum body width 1.45–3.1. Elytral length/pronotal length 1.85–3.7. Base of prothorax not or scarcely narrower than the combined elytral bases. Greatest prothoracic width not narrower or only slightly narrower than the greatest elytral width, or distinctly narrower than greatest elytral width. Beetles oval to elongate-oval; conspicuously necked to not necked; not waisted; usually mottled. Upper surfaces of body non-glabrous; not bristly; with neither scales nor scale-like setae.
Detailed morphology. Inclination of the head slight. Eyes strongly protuberant, or not strongly protuberant; deeply accommodating the antennae in an anterior notch; without bristles. Antennae short to about half the insect's head to tail length; 11 segmented. Antennal scape not swollen. Antennae filiform, or serrate. Antennal insertions visible from above. Pronotal length/maximum pronotal width 0.55–0.95. Prothorax without notopleural sutures. Metaventrite without a transverse groove. Hind coxae not shaped posteriorly to receive the femur. Tarsal segmentation formula 4, 4, 4. The tarsi exhibiting bilobed segments; with a tiny penultimate segment hidden by distal lobing of the fourth and fused to the fifth. Front tarsi with as many segments as the mid-tarsi; 4-segmented, or 5-segmented (depending on interpretation). Mid-leg tarsi 4-segmented, or 5-segmented; pseudotetramerous. The claws of the mid-leg tarsi not appendaged. The claws of the mid-leg tarsi one-toothed or bifid; without an associated empodium. Hind tarsi with as many segments as the mid-tarsi; 4-segmented, or 5-segmented (the basal segment longer than the rest together). Elytral length/maximum width across the elytra 0.9–1.9. Elytra covering most to all of the abdomen; exposing no more than part of the terminal tergite to at least three complete abdominal tergites; truncate. Scutellary striole absent. Elytra non-glabrous (clothed with recumbent hairs). Wings well developed. Exposed abdominal sternites 5; all articulated and movable. Abdominal segment 8 apparently without functional spiracles.
Adult habitat, ecology. Not predacious; phytophagous (especially associated with legumes); in living vegetation.
Larvae. Larvae not predacious; eating dried plant material or stored plant products (especially on seeds of legumes); in dried plant material and in stored plant products.
Classification. Suborder Polyphaga; Infraorder Cucujiformia; Superfamily Chrysomeloidea.
Worldwide and British representation. About 1300 species worldwide; genera about 60. 13 species in Britain; genera in Britain 5; Acanthoscelides, Bruchidius, Bruchus, Callosobruchus, Zabrotes.
General comments. Small, ovoid, compact beetles with the head deflexed n a long neck; body with recumbent hairs, often spotted.
Illustrations. • Bruchidius ater: B. Ent. 754. • Bruchidius ater: B. Ent. 754, legend+text. • Bruchidius ater: B. Ent. 754, text cont.. • Donacia (11 spp.), Orsodacne (2 spp.): Fowler 4, 126 (1890). • Fowler 4, 126 (1890): original legend.. • Bruchidius (3 spp.), Bruchus (5 spp.), Callosobruchus (with Cerambycidae): Fowler 4, 125 (1890). • Fowler 4, 125 (1890): original legend. • Bruchus rufimanus and Callosobruchus chinensis, with Cerambycidae and Chrysomelidae Fowler Suppl. 1. • Fowler Suppl. 17, 1913: original legend. • Bruchidius ater (Janson 227). • Bruchus, Bruchidius.
To view the illustrations with detailed captions, go to the interactive key. This also offers full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2003 onwards. British insects: the families of Coleoptera. Version: 2nd January 2012. http://delta-intkey.com’.
