''Caryobruchus gleditsiae'' is a

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 ...

beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

in the family

Chrysomelidae The insects of the beetle family Chrysomelidae are commonly known as leaf beetles, and include over 37,000 (and probably at least 50,000) species in more than 2,500 genera, making up one of the largest and most commonly encountered of all beetle ...

(formerly

Bruchidae The bean weevils or seed beetles are a subfamily (Bruchinae) of beetles, now placed in the family Chrysomelidae, though they have historically been treated as a separate family. They are granivores, and typically infest various kinds of seeds ...

). It lives in

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and Central America and develops inside the seeds of

palm trees Palm most commonly refers to: * Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand * Palm plants, of family Arecaceae **List of Arecaceae genera * Several other plants known as "palm" Palm or Palms may also refer to: Music * Palm ( ...

. Adults grow to a maximum length of , the size depending on the size of the seed it grew up in. The species was first described by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

in his 1763 '' Centuria Insectorum''.

Description

Adult beetles are from long, with the body size depending on the size of the seed it grows in as a larva. It is the largest species of Bruchidae in the United States, although other species within the genus can reach long. They adults are black, with short grey hairs and scattered white spots 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 ...

Distribution

''Caryobruchus gleditsiae'' is found in the

southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also referred to as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical region of the United States. It is located broadly on the eastern portion of the southern United States and the southern por ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

, the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

and the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

. A closely related species, '' Caryobruchus mariae'', is found on

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. Another closely related species, '' Caryobruchus maya'', is found in southern Mexico, Belize and Guatemala.

Ecology

While most members of the beetle subfamily

Bruchinae The bean weevils or seed beetles are a subfamily (Bruchinae) of beetles, now placed in the family Chrysomelidae, though they have historically been treated as a separate family. They are granivores, and typically infest various kinds of seeds or ...

(sometimes called the "pea and bean weevils") feed on

legume A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock f ...

s, ''Caryobruchus'' and its relatives in the tribe Pachymerini feed on

and are known as "palm seed weevils". The female beetle lays a single egg on the outside of a palm seed. Eggs are only laid on a seed if it has had the exocarp and mesocarp removed, probably by

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are na ...

s, revealing the smooth endocarp (see

fruit anatomy Fruit anatomy is the plant anatomy of the internal structure of fruit. Fruits are the mature ovary or ovaries of one or more flowers. They are found in three main anatomical categories: aggregate fruits, multiple fruits, and simple fruits. Aggre ...

). The

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 ...

that hatches out has sharp, heavy mandibles; which it uses to bore into the hard palm seed. Recorded host plants for ''C. gleditsiae'' encompass a variety of ''

Sabal ''Sabal'' is a genus of palms (or fan-palms) endemic to the New World. Currently, there are 17 recognized species of ''Sabal'', including one hybrid species. The species are native to the subtropical and tropical regions of the Americas, from th ...

'' species (including '' S. bermuda'', '' S. causiarum'', '' S. domingensis'', '' S. etonia'', '' S. glabra'', '' S. longipedunculata'', '' S. mexicana'', ''S. minor'', '' S. palmetto'', '' S. parviflora'', '' S. rosei'', '' S. uresana'' and '' S. yapa'') as well as other palm species, such as ''

Coccothrinax argentata ''Coccothrinax argentata'', commonly called the Florida silver palm, is a species of palm tree. It is native to south Florida, southeast Mexico, Colombia and to the West Indies, where it is found in the Bahamas, the southwest Caribbean and the ...

'', ''Copernicia'' sp., ''

Phoenix sylvestris ''Phoenix sylvestris'' (''sylvestris'' - Latin, of the forest) also known as silver date palm, Indian date, sugar date palm or wild date palm, is a species of flowering plant in the Arecaceae, palm family native to southern Pakistan, most of Ind ...

'', ''

Livistona chinensis ''Livistona chinensis'', the Chinese fan palm or fountain palm, is a species of subtropical palm tree of east Asia. It is native to southern Japan, Taiwan, the Ryukyu Islands, southeastern China and Hainan. In Japan, two notable populations occ ...

'', ''Roystonea'' sp., '' Thrinax microcarpa'' and ''

Washingtonia filifera ''Washingtonia filifera'', the desert fan palm, California fan palm, or California palm,Flora of North America Association. ''Flora of North America: North of Mexico Volume 22: Magnoliophyta: Alismatidae, Arecidae, Commelinidae (in Part), and Zi ...

''. ''C. gleditsiae'' has no known natural enemies.

Taxonomic history

''Caryobruchus gleditsiae'' was first described by

in his 1763 work '' Centuria Insectorum'', under the name ''Dermestes gleditsiae''. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

' refers to the plant

honey locust The honey locust (''Gleditsia triacanthos''), also known as the thorny locust or thorny honeylocust, is a deciduous tree in the family Fabaceae, native to central North America where it is mostly found in the moist soil of river valleys. Hon ...

(''Gleditsia triacanthos''), which was thought to be the beetle's host plant. The

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

has since been lost, and no

neotype In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the ...

was designated when the species was re-described by Jan A. Nilsson & Clarence Dan Johnson in 1990. ''C. gleditsiae'' was transferred to its current

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

by John Colburn Bridwell who erected the genus '' Caryobruchus'' in 1929, and designated ''C. gleditsiae'' as its "genotype" (

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2879003 Bruchinae Beetles of North America Beetles described in 1763 Insect pests of tropical forests Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus