Change of Name for Root Weevils
Dr. Rose Ella Warner
Systematic Entomology Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service
U.S. Department of Agriculture
c/o U.S. National Museum, Washington, D.C.
The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature in its Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature, Vol. 29, Part 1, May 1972, page 19, has announced that the generic name
Brachyrhinus
is suppressed and placed on the official index of rejected and invalid names.
According to the ruling, the name to be used for the species in North America is the generic name,
Otiorhynchus
. The species should be cited as follows:
| § Otiorhynchus orcticus (Fabricius) | |
| Otiorhynchus clavipes (Bondsorff) | |
| Otiorhynchus cribricollis Gyllenhal | |
| Otiorhynchus desertus Rosenhauer | |
| Otiorhynchus ligustici (Linnaeus) | |
|
Otiorhynchus ligneus (Olivier) |
|
| Otiorhynchus meridionolis Gyllenhal | |
| Otiorhynchus ovatus (Linnaeus) | |
| Otiorhynchus porcatus (Herbst) | |
| Otiorhynchus raucus (Fab ricius) | |
| Otiorhynchus rugifrons (Gyllenhal) | |
| Otiorhynchus rugosostriatus (Goeze) | |
|
Otiorhynchus scaber (Linnaeus) |
|
| Otiorhynchus singularis (Linnaeus) | |
| Otiorhynchus sulcatus (Fabricius) | |
| § Not established in North America |
Three of the named species are listed in the Common Names of Insects, Approved by the Entomological Society of America, December 1970. They are
Brachyrhinus ligustici
(L.),
Brachyrhinus ovatus
(L.), and
Brachyrhinus sulcatus
(F.). These species should now be listed as: Otiorhynchus ligustici (Linnaeus) - alfalfa snout beetle. Otiorhynchus ovatus (Linnaeus) - strawberry root weevil, Otiorhynchus sulcatus (Fabricius) - black vine weevil. All of the above species have been introduced from Europe and are pests of cultivated crops or ornamentals. The strawberry root weevil and the black vine weevil are especially serious pests of rhododendrons.