| Dryotribus | |
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| Genus: | Dryotribus |
Dryotribus is a genus of beetle in family Curculionidae. It contains the following species:
Beetles are a group of insects that form the order Coleoptera, in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 species, is the largest of all orders, constituting almost 40% of described insects and 25% of all known animal life-forms; new species are discovered frequently. The largest of all families, the Curculionidae (weevils) with some 80,000 member species, belongs to this order. Found in almost every habitat except the sea and the polar regions, they interact with their ecosystems in several ways: beetles often feed on plants and fungi, break down animal and plant debris, and eat other invertebrates. Some species are serious agricultural pests, such as the Colorado potato beetle, while others such as Coccinellidae eat aphids, scale insects, thrips, and other plant-sucking insects that damage crops.
The Curculionidae are the family of the "true" weevils. They are one of the largest animal families, with 6,800 genera and 83,000 species described worldwide.
Dryotribus mimeticus is a species of beetle in the family Curculionidae. It is endemic to the United States, with the species also being recorded on Scorpion Reef a remote island chain in Mexico. The species also occurred in Florida, it has been suggested in Biologia Centrali-Americana that it was actually introduced to Hawaii from the Florida population. The species was said to have occurred in drift logs on Laysan Island, French Frigate Shoals, Johnston Island and Wake Island. Despite being considered extinct since 1986, 2 specimen of D. mimeticus were found and collected in the Dominican Republic in 1997; 11 years after the species was said to be extinct. In 2002 another specimen of the species was collected in Montserrat.
