Premnotrypes | |
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Premnotrypes vorax | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Coleoptera |
Family: | Curculionidae |
Subfamily: | Entiminae |
Tribe: | Premnotrypini |
Genus: | Premnotrypes Pierce 1914 |
Premnotrypes (Andean potato weevil) is a genus of weevils (which are beetles). It was described in 1914 by American entomologist W. Dwight Pierce (1881-1967). Several species in the genus are pests, because the larvae feed on potato tubers and the adults on the leaves (one species even has the specific epithet solanivorax, 'potato devourer'). It is native to Latin America, in particular Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, but has been recorded as a possible invader on other continents.[1][2][3][4][5]