Oxycorynini | |
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Male Rhopalotria dimidiata Note the wide pronotum (typical for many Oxycorynini) and the round elytra tips. | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Coleoptera |
Family: | Belidae |
Subfamily: | Oxycoryninae |
Tribe: | Oxycorynini Schönherr, 1840 |
Genera | |
Alloxycorynus | |
Synonyms | |
Oxychoridae Ienistea, 1986 (lapsus) |
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 on flowers or several types of fruit.[1]
The Oxycorynini contain 7 genera, the bulk of the subfamily Oxycoryninae. But while they are highly diverse, they are not particularly speciose, with nearly 20 described and a few undescribed species compared to the more than 150 Hawaiian species of Proterhinus of the Aglycyderini.[1]
The fossil record shows that the three Oxycoryninae tribes were well distinct by the mid-Paleogene, about 50 million years ago (mya). The belids as a whole are of Jurassic origin, and the Oxycorynini must thus have evolved in the Late Cretaceous or perhaps Paleocene, roughly some 100-60 mya.[2]