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Beetles of Zihuatanejo

ORDER COLEOPTERA

Acanthoscelides Pea and Bean Weevil
Acanthoscelides (Genus)

-Animals (Kingdom Animalia)

-Arthropods (Phaga)ylum Arthropoda)

-Hexapods (Subphylum Hexapoda)

-Insects (Class Insecta)

-Winged and Once-winged Insects (Subclass Pterygota)

-Beetles (Order Coleoptera​​)

-​Water, Rove, Scarab, Long-horned, Leaf, and Snout Beetles (Suborder Polyphaga)

-​Cucujiform Beetles (Infraorder Cucujiformia)

-Leaf Beetles and Allies (Superfamily Chrysomeloidea)

-Leaf Beetles Family (Chrysomelidae)

-Pea and Bean Weevils (Subfamily Bruchinae)

-Tribe Bruchini

-Subtribe Acanthoscelidina

-Genus Acanthoscelides


Pea and bean weevils are beetles that eat the leaf margins and shoot tips of garden peas and broad bean, causing characteristic notch-like damage. Pea and been weevil belongs to the subfamily Entiminae, also known as the broad nosed weevils due to the short stout rostrum.

Diet

  • Larvae: Feed almost exclusively on the seeds of legumes (family Fabaceae), developing inside beans, peas, acacias, mesquites, and many other wild and cultivated legumes.

  • Adults: Feed on pollen, nectar, flowers, and occasionally leaves, while some species consume little or no food after emerging.

Range

  • The genus Acanthoscelides is distributed from Canada and the United States through Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and throughout South America.

  • Mexico is a centre of diversity for the genus, with numerous species occurring throughout the country, including the Pacific coast of Guerrero and the Zihuatanejo region.

  • Many species are closely associated with native leguminous plants.

Habitat

  • Inhabits tropical dry forests, tropical rainforests, thorn scrub, grasslands, woodland edges, secondary forests, orchards, agricultural fields, and gardens.

  • Larvae develop entirely within the seeds and seed pods of host plants.

  • Adults are commonly found on flowering legumes and around mature seed pods.

Size

  • Adult length: 2–6 mm (0.08–0.24 in)

  • Larvae reach 3–5 mm (0.12–0.20 in) before pupating inside the seed.


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