Brentidae

Brentidae
A brentid from the Western Ghats
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Infraorder:	Cucujiformia
Clade:	Phytophaga
Superfamily:	Curculionoidea
Family:	Brentidae Billberg, 1820
Subfamilies
Apioninae Brentinae Eurhynchinae ?Ithycerinae Microcerinae Nanophyinae

Brentidae, sometimes known as the primitive weevils, is a cosmopolitan family of primarily xylophagous beetles also known as straight-snouted weevils. The concept of this family has been 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.

Classification

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 the corresponding tribal groups, Antliarhinini, Cyladini, Cyphagogini, Myrmacicelini and Trachelizini, primarily within the subfamily Brentinae.

The New York weevil has been included in a broadly defined family definition, placed as the only genus in a subfamily Ithycerinae,^[1] This position has not been retained by some authors who treat the genus and its extinct relatives treated as the separate family Ithyceridae.^[2]

There are 4000 known species of Brentids.^[3]

Description

Brentid larvae are fungivorous, eating fungi on dead wood. The adults are usually long and dark, and can be as small as 1.5 mm or as long as 90.^[3]

See also

• Acratini
• List of Brentidae genera

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. [1]

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
• Data related to Brentidae at Wikispecies

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