Baridinae is a

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

of true weevils (Curculionidae). It was established by Carl Johan Schönherr in 1836. Some 4,300

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

in 550 genera are placed here, most of which occur in the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...

. A few are economically significant pests, while others are in turn used for

biocontrol Biological control or biocontrol is a method of controlling pests, such as insects, mites, weeds, and plant diseases, using other organisms. It relies on predation, parasitism, herbivory, or other natural mechanisms, but typically also invo ...

invasive plant An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

pests. This subfamily also contains a few

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

Description and ecology

Baridinae are typically small to mid-sized short-legged

weevil Weevils are beetles belonging to the Taxonomic rank, superfamily Curculionoidea, known for their elongated snouts. They are usually small, less than in length, and Herbivore, herbivorous. Approximately 97,000 species of weevils are known. They b ...

s, with a characteristic round or ball-like shape. 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

elytra An elytron (; ; , ) is a modified, hardened forewing of beetles (Coleoptera), though a few of the true bugs (Hemiptera) such as the family Schizopteridae are extremely similar; in true bugs, the forewings are called hemelytra (sometimes alterna ...

e; 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 The prothorax is the foremost of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the first pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the pronotum ( dorsal), the prosternum (ventral), and the propleuron (lateral) on e ...

is not highly arched and may be outright flattened; it has rounded corners and it is about as wide as the elytrae. The

rostrum Rostrum may refer to: * Any kind of a platform for a speaker: **dais **pulpit * Rostrum (anatomy), a beak, or anatomical structure resembling a beak, as in the mouthparts of many sucking insects * Rostrum (ship), a form of bow on naval ships * Ros ...

("snout") is long, markedly curved, and directed more or less straight downwards. The

antenna Antenna ( antennas or antennae) may refer to: Science and engineering * Antenna (radio), also known as an aerial, a transducer designed to transmit or receive electromagnetic (e.g., TV or radio) waves * Antennae Galaxies, the name of two collid ...

attach near the tip of the rostrum; they are bent in the center and have a knop at the tip, as in other

true weevil True most commonly refers to truth, the state of being in congruence with fact or reality. True may also refer to: Places * True, West Virginia, an unincorporated community in the United States * True, Wisconsin, a town in the United States * T ...

s. The

proximal Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position pro ...

antenna segment is stick-shaped. There are 12 antennal segments. These weevils feed on

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

s as

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

e and imagines, mainly on the green parts. The larvae are often

stem Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...

borers. Their foodplants can be found almost all over the

Mesangiospermae Mesangiospermae (core angiosperms) is a clade of flowering plants (angiosperms), informally called "mesangiosperms". They are one of two main groups of angiosperms. It is a name created under the rules of the '' PhyloCode'' system of phylogenet ...

; they are often of the cabbage family (Brassicaceae), e.g.

cabbage Cabbage, comprising several cultivars of ''Brassica oleracea'', is a leafy green, red (purple), or white (pale green) biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage ( ''B.&nb ...

s (''

Brassica napus Rapeseed (''Brassica napus ''subsp.'' napus''), also known as rape, or oilseed rape, is a bright-yellow flowering member of the family Brassicaceae (mustard or cabbage family), cultivated mainly for its oil-rich seed, which naturally contains a ...

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...

s) and

Rapeseed Rapeseed (''Brassica napus ''subsp.'' napus''), also known as rape, or oilseed rape, is a bright-yellow flowering member of the family Brassicaceae (mustard or cabbage family), cultivated mainly for its oil-rich seed, which naturally contains a ...

(''B. oleracea''). Another type of foodplant are mignonettes (''Reseda''),

Resedaceae Resedaceae is a family of mostly herbaceous dicotyledonous plants comprising 107 known species in 8 to 12 genera: *''Borthwickia'' - 1 species, sometimes placed in its own family Borthwickiaceae *''Caylusea'' - 3 species *''Forchhammeria'' - 10 s ...

and thus close relatives of the Brassicaceae. ''Acuthopeus cocciniae'' is used for biocontrol of

Ivory Gourd ''Coccinia grandis'', the ivy gourd, also known as scarlet gourd, tindora and kowai fruit, is a tropical vine. It grows primarily in tropical climates and is commonly found in the Indian states, where it forms a part of the local cuisine. ''Coc ...

(''Coccinia grandis''), a

Cucurbitaceae The Cucurbitaceae, also called cucurbits or the gourd family, are a plant family consisting of about 965 species in around 95 genera, of which the most important to humans are: *''Cucurbita'' – squash, pumpkin, zucchini, some gourds *''Lagena ...

which belongs to a lineage of

rosid The rosids are members of a large clade ( monophyletic group) of flowering plants, containing about 70,000 species, more than a quarter of all angiosperms. The clade is divided into 16 to 20 orders, depending upon circumscription and classifica ...

s well distant from the Brassicaceae. Some Baridinae are found on ''

Helianthus ''Helianthus'' () is a genus comprising about 70 species of annual and perennial flowering plants in the daisy family Asteraceae commonly known as sunflowers. Except for three South American species, the species of ''Helianthus'' are native to ...

'' (typical sunflowers) of the

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

, which are

asterid In the APG IV system (2016) for the classification of flowering plants, the name asterids denotes a clade (a monophyletic group). Asterids is the largest group of flowering plants, with more than 80,000 species, about a third of the total floweri ...

eudicots quite unrelated to the cabbage family. And ''Orchidophilus'' is particular to

Epidendroideae Epidendroideae is a subfamily of plants in the orchid family, Orchidaceae. Epidendroideae is larger than all the other orchid subfamilies together, comprising more than 15,000 species in 576 genera. Most epidendroid orchids are tropical epiphytes ...

orchids Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

– especially ''

Dendrobium ''Dendrobium'' is a genus of mostly epiphytic and lithophytic orchids in the family Orchidaceae. It is a very large genus, containing more than 1,800 species that are found in diverse habitats throughout much of south, east and southeast Asia, i ...

'' and ''

Phalaenopsis ''Phalaenopsis'' (), also known as moth orchids, is a genus of about seventy species of plants in the family Orchidaceae. Orchids in this genus are monopodial epiphytes or lithophytes with long, coarse roots, short, leafy stems and long-lasti ...

'' –, which are

monocot Monocotyledons (), commonly referred to as monocots, (Lilianae ''sensu'' Chase & Reveal) are grass and grass-like flowering plants (angiosperms), the seeds of which typically contain only one embryonic leaf, or cotyledon. They constitute one of ...

s and thus even more distant relatives of the usual Baridinae foodplants.

Systematics

This subfamily includes the following tribes (some notable genera are also listed): * Ambatini * Anopsilini * Apostasimerini (includes former Madopterini) * Baridini Schönherr, 1839 ** '' Baris'' Germar, 1817 * Madarini ** '' Acythopeus'' ** '' Eumycterus'' Schönherr, 1838 ** '' Orchidophilus'' Buchanan, 1935 * Neosharpiini * Nertinini * Optatini * Pantotelini * Peridinetini Similar to the

Molytinae Molytinae is a subfamily of weevils described by Carl Johan Schönherr in 1823. Molytinae includes the following tribes: * Amalactini * Aminyopini * Amorphocerini * Anchonini * Cholini * Cleogonini * Conotrachelini * Cycloterini * Dino ...

, 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 In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...

included in the Baridinae ''

sensu lato ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular co ...

'' are the

Ceutorhynchinae Ceutorhynchinae is a subfamily of minute seed weevils in the family of beetles known as Curculionidae. There are at least 150 genera and more than 1000 described species in Ceutorhynchinae worldwide. Genera These 150 genera belong to the sub ...

Conoderinae Conoderinae is a subfamily of true weevils in the beetle family Curculionidae The Curculionidae are a family of weevils, commonly called snout beetles or true weevils. They are one of the largest animal families, with 6,800 genera and 83,000 s ...

, Orobitidinae and Xiphaspidinae.

References

:''This article draws heavily on the corresponding article in the Bokmål Wikipedia, accessed in the version of 18 September 2008.'' {{Taxonbar, from=Q1789026 Polyphaga subfamilies Articles containing video clips