What is Weevil?
{{Taxobox | name = Weevils | image = Kaldari Curculio occidentis 01.jpg | image_width = 250px | image_caption = The Filbert weevil, ''Curculio occidentis'', <br/>a pest of [[oak]] trees | regnum = [[Animal]]ia | phylum = [[Arthropod]]a | classis = [[Insect]]a | subclassis = [[Pterygota]] | infraclassis = [[Neoptera]] | superordo = [[Endopterygota]] | ordo = [[Coleoptera]] | subordo = [[Polyphaga]] | familia = '''Curculionidae''' | subdivision = }} [[File:Maize weevil.jpg|thumb|right|230px|Maize weevil, ''Sitophilus zeamais'']] '''Weevils''' are [[herbivorous]] [[beetles]]. They have a long 'snout' at the front of their head, called a ''rostrum''. Weevils are a [[Family (biology)|family]], the '''Curculionidae''', which may be the largest beetle family, with about 45,000+ named living [[species]]. That makes it the largest family in the animal kingdom.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/foltz/eny3005/lab1/Coleoptera/Curculionid.htm | author = John L. Foltz | title = Coleoptera: Curculionidae|year=1998 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100829172620/http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/foltz/eny3005/lab1/coleoptera/Curculionid.htm |archivedate=August 29, 2010}}</ref> In addition, the superfamily Curculionoidea has ten more families of closely related weevil-type beetles. == Damaging pests == The family has some [[Pest (biology)|pests]] which damage plants of interest to humans. The most famous weevil is the [[boll weevil]], which ruins [[cotton]] crops. The ''Ips'' [[genus]], feeding on [[Ponderosa pine]], introduces a [[fungus]] to the tree. The fungus blocks [[resin]] canals, which leaves the weevil free to eat. Resin would normally wash the insects out; it is a defence mechanism. The fungus often kills the tree, and groups of dead trees are a focus for [[forest fire]]s. In this way the insect is indirectly responsible for serious fires.<ref>David Grimaldi & Michael S. Engel 2005. ''Evolution of the insects''. Cambridge University Press. p359 {{ISBN|0-521-82149-5}}</ref><ref>Legalov, Andrei