Attelabidae

Byctiscus betulae, copyright James K. Lindsey.

Belongs within: Coleoptera.
Contains: Attelabinae, Auletobiina.

The Attelabidae are a group of weevils whose larvae develop in rolled leaves or developing shoots. The thief weevil Pterocolus ovatus of southern North America lays its eggs in leaf rolls constructed by other attelabids; the developing larva feeds on the egg of the original constructor before eating the rolled leaf (Bouchard 2014).

Characters (from Lawrence & Britton 1991): Oblong to slightly elongate, narrowed anteriorly and subglabrous or clothed with decumbent and erect hairs. Rostrum short, flattened and apically expanded or long and narrow; antennae straight, inserted dorsally at base of rostrum, eleven-segmented with three-segmented club; gular sutures fused; mandibles usually exodont (with outwardly projecting teeth); labrum not visible; maxillary palps well developed, but labial palps may be highly reduced; prothorax much narrower than elytral bases, without lateral carinae; fore coxae projecting, trochantins concealed, fore coxal cavities externally and internally closed; mid coxal cavities contiguous or narrowly separated, laterally closed; tarsi pseudotetramerous, tarsal claws connate at base; pygidium partly or completely exposed; first three or four ventrites solidly fused. Larvae relatively short and broad, strongly curved, somewhat narrowed at each end and very lightly sclerotised; head strongly or only slightly retracted; labral rods present; most abdominal terga with two transverse folds (sometimes indistinct); some Rhynchitinae with bands of tergal asperities.

<==Attelabidae
    |  i. s.: Himatolabus B14
    |           |--H. pubescens B14
    |           `--H. vestitus B14
    |         Homoeolabus analis B14
    |         Merhynchites MW15
    |         Pterocolinae B14
    |           |--Pterocolus ovatus (Fabricius 1801) B14
    |           `--Apterocolus B14
    |         Caenorhinus germanicus RD77
    |--+--Attelabinae GC-P14
    |  `--Apoderinae GC-P14
    |       |--Paracycnotrachelus longicollis (Fabricius 1801) [=Attelabus longicollis] Z93
    |       `--Apoderus [Apoderini] B14
    |            |--A. coryli (Linnaeus 1758) B14 [=Attelabus coryli G20]
    |            |--A. javanicus B88
    |            |--A. longicollis B35
    |            |--A. ludyi B14
    |            `--A. tranquebaricus B14
    `--Rhynchitinae [Rhynchitidae] GC-P14
         |  i. s.: Lasiorhynchites HF03
         |           |--L. praeustus (Boheman 1845) HF03
         |           `--L. syriacus Desbrochers 1868 HF03
         |         Neocoenorrhinus pauxillus (Germar 1824) [=Coenorrhinus pauxillus] HF03
         |         Eugnamptus nigriventris (Schaeffer 1905) B14
         |         Hemilypus B14
         |         Acritorrhynchites B14
         |         Essodius B14
         |         Baissorhynchus LB91
         |         Deporaus GC-P14
         |           |--D. betulae GC-P14
         |           |--D. megacephalus C01
         |           `--D. notatus [=Arodepus notatus] B88
         |--Byctiscus [Byctiscini] B14
         |    |--B. betulae B14
         |    |--B. populi GC-P14
         |    `--B. rugosus (Gebler 1830) B14
         |--Rhynchites [Rhynchitina, Rhynchitini] B14
         |    |--R. alliariae R13
         |    |--R. auratus (Scopoli 1763) B14
         |    |--R. bacchus (Linnaeus 1758) B14, L58 [=Attelabus bacchus L02, Curculio bacchus G20]
         |    |--R. betulae R13
         |    |--R. betuleti R13
         |    |--R. conicus R13
         |    |--R. cupreus R13
         |    |--R. giganteus B14
         |    |--R. heros B14
         |    |--R. pauxillus C01
         |    `--R. populi R13
         `--Auletini L01
              |--Auletobiina L01
              |--Pseudauletina L01
              |    |--Pseudauletes Voss 1922 L01
              |    |    `--*P. rufiventris (Jekel 1860) [=Rhynchites rufiventris] L01
              |    `--Minurus Waterhouse 1842 L01
              |         `--*M. testaceus Waterhouse 1842 L01
              `--Auletes Schoenherr 1826 [Auletina] L01
                   |--*A. tubicen Schoenherr 1826 [=Rhynchites tubicen; incl. A. meridionalis Jacquelin de Val 1854] L01
                   |--A. calceatus Pascoe 1874 M86
                   |--A. filirostris Pascoe 1874 M86
                   |--A. melanocephalus Erichs. 1842 M86
                   |--A. nigritarsis Pascoe 1874 M86
                   |--A. turbidus Pascoe 1874 M86
                   `--A. wagenblasti Uyttenboogart 1935 [incl. A. wagenblasti f. aenea Voss 1939] L01

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B35] Boisduval, J. B. 1835. Voyage de Découvertes de l’Astrolabe. Exécuté par ordre du Roi, pendant les années 1826–1827–1828–1829, sous le commandement de M. J. Dumont d'Urville. Faune entomologique de l'océan Pacifique, avec l'illustration des insectes nouveaux recueillis pendant le voyage vol. 2. Coléoptères et autres ordres. J. Tastu: Paris.

[B88] Bouček, Z. 1988. Australasian Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera): A biosystematic revision of genera of fourteen families, with a reclassification of species. CAB International: Wallingford (UK).

[B14] Bouchard, P. (ed.) 2014. The Book of Beetles: A lifesize guide to six hundred of nature's gems. Ivy Press: Lewes (United Kingdom).

[C01] Csiki, E. 1901. Bogarak [Coleopteren]. In: Horváth, G. (ed.) Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazása [Dritte Asiatische Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] vol. 2. Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazásának Állattani Eredményei [Zoologische Ergebnisse der Dritten Asiatischen Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] pp. 75–120. Victor Hornyánszky: Budapest, and Karl W. Hierseman: Leipzig.

[GC-P14] Gillett, C. P. D. T., A. Crampton-Platt, M. J. T. N. Timmermans, B. H. Jordal, B. C. Emerson & A. P. Vogler. 2014. Bulk de novo mitogenome assembly from pooled total DNA elucidates the phylogeny of weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea). Molecular Biology and Evolution 31 (8): 2223–2237.

[G20] Goldfuss, G. A. 1820. Handbuch der Naturgeschichte vol. 3. Handbuch der Zoologie pt 1. Johann Leonhard Schrag: Nürnberg.

[HF03] Halperin, J., & J. Fremuth. 2003. Contribution to the knowledge of Curculionoidea (Coleoptera) and their host plants in Israel. Zoology in the Middle East 29: 93–100.

[L02] Latreille, P. A. 1802. Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière des crustacés et des insectes vol. 3. Familles naturelles des genres. F. Dufart: Paris.

[LB91] Lawrence, J. F., & E. B. Britton. 1991. Coleoptera (beetles). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers 2^nd ed. vol. 2 pp. 543–683. Melbourne University Press: Carlton (Victoria).

[L01] Legalov, A. A. 2001. Revision der holarktischen Auletini (Coleoptera: Attelabidae). Russian Entomological Journal 10 (1): 33–66.

[L58] Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentii Salvii: Holmiae.

[M86] Masters, G. 1886. Catalogue of the described Coleoptera of Australia. Part V. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, series 2, 1 (3): 585–686.

[MW15] McKenna, D. D., A. L. Wild, K. Kanda, C. L. Bellamy, R. G. Beutel, M. S. Caterino, C. W. Farnum, D. C. Hawks, M. A. Ivie, M. L. Jameson, R. A. B. Leschen, A. E. Marvaldi, J. V. McHugh, A. F. Newton, J. A. Robertson, M. K. Thayer, M. F. Whiting, J. F. Lawrence, A. Ślipiński, D. R. Maddison & B. D. Farrell. 2015. The beetle tree of life reveals that Coleoptera survived end-Permian mass extinction to diversify during the Cretaceous terrestrial revolution. Systematic Entomology 40 (4): 835–880.

[R13] Reuter, O. M. 1913. Lebensgewohnheiten und Instinkte der Insekten bis zum Erwachen der sozialen Instinkte. R. Friedländer & Sohn: Berlin.

[RD77] Richards, O. W., & R. G. Davies. 1977. Imms' General Textbook of Entomology 10^th ed. vol. 2. Classification and Biology. Chapman and Hall: London.

[Z93] Zimmerman, E. C. 1993. Australian Weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea) vol. 3. Nanophyidae, Rhynchophoridae, Erirhinidae, Curculionidae: Amycterinae, literature consulted. CSIRO Australia.

Last updated: 15 November 2020.