Handbook of the Bruchidae of the United States and Canada (Insecta, Coleoptera)

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This handbook gives the distinguishing characteristics and diagnostic keys for the 5 subfamilies, 24 genera, and 156 species of the seed beetle family Bruchidae of the United States (including Hawaii) and Canada. Associated data for each species description include a history of the name, synonymical names, type specimen information, geographical distribution, host plants, and parasitoids. Appendices give species, host, fossil, and parasitoid lists as well as a glossary of terms and a bibliography. Volume 2 of this handbook contains the illustrations and photographs. Bruchidae are found on every major land mass except Antarctica and New Zealand. Eggs are usually laid on the seed or fruit of a plant suitable for development of the larva. Immature stages are spent inside seeds that have been excavated by larval feeding. Adults live free and feed on pollen and nectar. Johnson (1970) estimates that approximately 84 percent of the known hosts of Bruchidae are in the plant family Leguminosae. The remaining hosts are scattered among 31 other families. Sixteen plant families support larval feeding in the United States and Canada. Several species of Bruchidae, especially those with a cosmopolitan distribution, are notorious pests of stored leguminous seeds. This handbook is part of a series of studies of bruchid genera contributing to a comprehensive database for this important seed-feeding beetle family in the Western Hemisphere. It provides the means to identify these insects for taxonomists, students, museum curators, biodiversity workers, port identifiers, and ecologists conducting studies in rangeland, pasture, and forest management in the United States and Canada.

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ELECTRONIC FILE - Zoology: Invertebrates

Generic citation: Kingsolver, John M. 2004. Handbook of the Bruchidae of the United States and Canada (Insecta, Coleoptera). USDA Agricultural Research Service. 2 vols. [636 p.]. Technical Bulletin No. 1912. Available at: http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/np/Bruchidae/BruchidaeVol1.pdf and http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/np/Bruchidae/BruchidaeVol2.pdf.