Oxycoryninae are

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 primitive

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 of the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Belidae Belidae is a family of weevils, called belids or primitive weevils because they have straight antennae, unlike the "true weevils" or Curculionidae which have geniculate (elbowed) antennae. They are sometimes known as "cycad weevils", but this pro ...

, but sometimes treated as a distinct family Oxycorynidae. Like in other belids, their antennae are straight, not elbowed as in the true weevils (

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 species described worldwide. They are the sister group to the family Brentidae. T ...

), and their

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 feed on the wood of diseased or dying plants or on deadwood or fruits; they tend to avoid healthy plants.Marvaldi ''et al.'' (2006) The Oxycoryninae contain a mere 13 living

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

altogether, more than half of which are in the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English language, English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in p ...

Oxycorynini Oxycorynini are a tribe of American belids, primitive weevils of the family Belidae. Like in other belids, their antennae are straight, not elbowed as in the true weevils ( Curculionidae). In contrast to other Belidae, Oxycorynini larvae feed ...

. Of the three tribes recognized here, two are very small but one of these, the

Aglycyderini Aglycyderini is a tribe of belids, primitive weevils of the family Belidae. Like in other belids, their antennae are straight, not elbowed as in the true weevils (Curculionidae). They occur only on the Pacific Islands and in the Macaronesian regi ...

, are often treated as a distinct subfamily. However, they share several traits with other Oxycoryninae, especially with the

Metrioxenini Metrioxenini (metrioxenines) are a tribe of belids, primitive weevils of the family Belidae, containing about 30 species. They are only found in two widely separated areas, Southeast Asia extending to Indonesia, and South Africa. In the Paleo ...

(the other minor tribe). The fossil record shows that the three tribes were well distinct by the mid-

Paleogene The Paleogene ( ; British English, also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period, geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million yea ...

, about . The belids as a whole are of

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

origin, and the Oxycoryninae must thus date from the

Late Jurassic The Late Jurassic is the third epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time from 163.5 ± 1.0 to 145.0 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic strata.Owen 1987. In European lithostratigraphy, the name ...

or at most

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma. Geology Pro ...

, roughly some .Marvaldi ''et al.'' (2006), Ming ''et al.'' (2006) Oxycoryninae, as defined by Pascoe in 1870, refers to what today is the tribe

. Oxycorynidae, as defined by Kolbe in 1908, also refers to the Oxycorynini.

Description

Except in the Aglycyderini, 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") of adult Oxycoryninae is located high on the head and the underside of the head is very much rounded; this can be appreciated in profile. The second funicle segment is not longer than the first and may be shorter. The mesothoracal

sternite The sternum (pl. "sterna") is the ventral portion of a segment of an arthropod thorax or abdomen. In insects, the sterna are usually single, large sclerites, and external. However, they can sometimes be divided in two or more, in which case the ...

is flattened but between the second leg pair there is a protrusion projecting at an angle of about 45°. The procoxa has no visible suture except the hole through which the trochanter tip (onto which the procoxa latches) can be seen. The first tarsal segment is tiny (shorter than the second one) and hardly visible. In the

e, the antennae are reduced to a single segment, which bears the

sensorium A sensorium (/sɛnˈsɔːrɪəm/) (plural: sensoria) is the apparatus of an organism's perception considered as a whole, the "seat of sensation" where it experiences, perceives and interprets the environments within which it lives. The term origi ...

on a little knob. The apical segment of the maxillary

palp Pedipalps (commonly shortened to palps or palpi) are the second pair of appendages of chelicerates – a group of arthropods including spiders, scorpions, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders. The pedipalps are lateral to the chelicerae ("jaws") and ...

us carries no

seta In biology, setae (singular seta ; from the Latin word for "bristle") are any of a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms. Animal setae Protostomes Annelid setae are stiff bristles present on the body. Th ...

e, and the labium has no strut. The

spiracle Spiracle or spiraculum may refer to: * Spiracle (arthropods), opening in the exoskeletons of some arthropods * Spiracle (vertebrates), openings on the surface of some vertebrates * Spiraculum, a genus of land snails in family Cyclophoridae Cycl ...

s have soft walls without sclerotized rings.

Notable genera

* '' Aglycyderes'' (

) – occurs more than away from its closest living relatives. * '' Metrioxena'' (

) –

prehistoric Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...

species may have lived 50

million years ago The abbreviation Myr, "million years", is a unit of a quantity of (i.e. ) years, or 31.556926 teraseconds. Usage Myr (million years) is in common use in fields such as Earth science and cosmology. Myr is also used with Mya (million years ago). ...

. * '' Parallocorynus'' and ''

Rhopalotria ''Rhopalotria'' is a genus of cycad weevils in the beetle family Belidae. There are about six described species in ''Rhopalotria''. Species These six species belong to the genus ''Rhopalotria'': * ''Rhopalotria dimidiata'' Chevrolat, 1878 * '' ...

'' (

) – the "cycad beetles" of

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

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 ...

and

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. ...

Footnotes

References

* (2006): Phylogeny of the Oxycoryninae sensu lato (Coleoptera: Belidae) and evolution of host-plant associations. ''Invertebrate Systematics'' 20: 447–476. (HTML abstract) * (2006): A new fossil weevil (Coleoptera, Curculionoidea, Belidae) from the Yixian Formation of western Liaoning, China. ''Progress in Natural Science'' 16 (8): 885-888. (HTML abstract) {{Taxonbar, from=Q3511225 Belidae