Indian Entiminae

(Broad nosed weevils)

Weevils are among the most important insect herbivores and their species diversity is well documented, particularly in the tropics (Anderson, 1993; 1995; Farrell, 1998). The number of described beetle species is about 400,000 (Spangler, 1982 and Hammond, 1992), with the 62,000 weevils comprising 15.5%. The most recent comprehensive tally of Curculionoideaupto date as on 1988 is around 5087 described genera and 56920 species (Kuschel, 1995). The recent comprehensive world catalogue of weevil genera by Alonso-Zarazaga and Lyal, 1999, 2002; Lyal and Alonso-Zarazaga, (2006) recognizes 5468 valid genera as on 1999, including fossils but excluding Scolytinae and Platypodinae. Oberprieleret al. (2007) estimated around 5800 genera and 62000 species under Curculionoidea, comparable with Lawrence (1982) and Watt (1982) earlier estimates of 60,000 and 65,000, respectively. Of these Curculionidae comprise 4600 genera and 51000 species, as the largest of weevil groups and comprising more than 80% (Oberprieleret al., 2007).

The broad nosed weevils of the subfamily Entiminae with more than 12000 species are the largest group of weevils distributed world wide, and mostly tropical regions. These include many serious, injurious and agriculturally important pests (Yunakov and Nadein, 2006). These are characterized by short rostrum with adelognathous mouthparts with the prementum closing the buccal cavity from beneath, mandibles bearing deciduous cusps that assist the teneral weevils to escape from its earthen pupal cell, and larvae with a cushion like antennal sensorium (Oberprieleret al., 2007). Many of these entimines are important as leaf feeders in their adult stage and root or shoot feeders in their larval stage.