40 FAMILY III. CURCULIOXIDJE. 



Family III. CURCULIONTD.E. 



THE CURCULIOS OR WEEVILS. 



A family of very large size comprising the great majority of 

 all Rhynchopliora. Its principal distinguishing; characters are 

 the presence of a definite, well developed beak, which is usually 

 long and curved downward ; labrum absent except in the first 

 subfamily; palpi short, rigid, nearly always concealed within the 

 mouth; elytra, except in the first four small subfamilies, each 

 with a strong fold on the under side and near its outer edge, 

 which limits a deep groove in which the upper edge of the abdo- 

 men fits. 



In addition they have the head globose, mentum varying in 

 size but never concealing the base of the maxillae; antennae usu- 

 ally elbowed or geniculate (straight in the first eight subfam- 

 ilies) with the basal joint then much longer than any of the 

 others and forming an angle with them; funicle 3 7 jointed; 

 club distinct, composed of three joints, usually ringed or amm- 

 lated; thorax varying in form and without sutures on the sides 

 separating the prosternum; front coxal cavities enclosed behind; 

 side pieces of inesosternuni never reaching the coxal cavity ; ely- 

 tra without epipleurae; pygidium usually covered, sometimes ex 

 posed; abdomen with five ventral segments, the first and second 

 closely united; front and middle coxae rounded, hind ones oval, 

 more or less widely separated ; tarsal claws variable. 



More than iMl.OOO species of the family have been described 

 and many new ones are discovered each year. Of these more than 

 1,400 are from America north of Mexico. The family name, 

 Curculionidae, is founded on the old Liunaean genus Curculio, 

 which in turn was derived from the Latin and means a "corn- 

 worm" or "weevil." The genus Hylobius is the nearest approach 

 in this country to this old original genus. 



The weevils feed chiefly on fruits, seeds and nuts, but no part 

 of the plant is exempt from the attacks of either the larvae or 

 the mature insects; buds, leaves, twigs, flowers, fruits, bark, pith, 

 galls and roots each being the special food of some Curculionid. 

 The eggs are deposited by the mother beetle in the midst of the 



*R. P. Dow in a letter to the authors states that "the word is cure = 'circle' + io, 

 meaning, he who, or that which, alluding to the footless larva which curls up." 



