Zyzzyva

Zyzzyva Template:IPAc-en is a genus of South American weevils, often found on or near palm trees.<ref name="Andrews 2017">Template:Cite news</ref> It was first described in 1922 by Thomas Lincoln Casey Jr., based on specimens obtained in Brazil by Herbert Huntingdon Smith.<ref name="Casey 1922"/>Template:Rp

Casey describes Zyzzyva ochreotecta in his book Memoirs on the Coleoptera, Volume 10:<ref name="Casey 1922">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp

Rather broadly oblong-oval, convex, densely clothed with scales, ochreous and very uniform above, completely concealing the sculpture; beak (♂) scarcely longer than the prothorax, thick, distinctly arcuate, compressed basally, finely, closely punctate, longitudinally furrowed and carinate above; antennae obscure rufous; prothorax two-fifths wider than long, the sides parallel and nearly straight in basal two-fifths, thence oblique and nearly straight to the apex, which is truncate and much less than half as wide as the base; parallel scales dense and directed longitudinally in great part; elytra a third longer than wide, a fifth or sixth wider than the prothorax and nearly two and one-half times as long, the sides parallel, broadly, circularly rounded in apical third, the sutural angle not reëntrant; pygidium closely but not densely clothed with slender and suberect pale squamules; under surface without sexual mark, the first ventral suture fine but very distinct throughout, the others coarse, the fourth not reflexed at the sides. Length 4.3 mm.; width 2.0 mm. Brazil (Santarem). One specimen.{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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Etymology

Zyzzyva has achieved notoriety for being the last word in several English-language dictionaries.<ref name="Martin 2017">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Storer 1981">Template:Cite news</ref> Casey is commonly credited with naming the genus, although the etymology of the word is unclear.<ref name="Storer 1981"/><ref name="Martin 2017"/><ref name="Andrews 2017"/> One theory is that the word was inspired by Zyzza, a former genus of leafhoppers.<ref name="Martin 2017"/> An entomologist at New York's Museum of Natural History speculated that Casey made up the word as a joke, "to have the last word."<ref name="Storer 1981"/>

Species

There are three accepted species within this genus.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Zyzzyva ochreotecta Casey, 1922
• Zyzzyva rufula Hustache, 1951
• Zyzzyva squamosa (C.H.Boheman, 1844)

See also

• Aaaaba
• Aaadonta
• Zyzzogeton, a leafhopper, another "last entry"
• Zyzzyxdonta alata
• Zyzzyzus
• Zzyzx (disambiguation)

References

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