parent_taxon anthonomus
Beetles are a group of ___MASK4___ that form the order Coleoptera . The word " coleoptera " is from the Greek , " koleós ", meaning " sheath "; and , " pterón ", meaning " wing ", thus " sheathed wing ", because most beetles have two pairs of wings , the front pair , the " elytra ", being hardened and thickened into a shell - like protection for the rear pair and the beetle ' s abdomen . The order contains more species than any other order , constituting almost 25 % of all known animal life - forms . About 40 % of all described insect species are beetles ( about 400 , 000 species ), and new species are discovered frequently . The largest taxonomic family , the ___MASK84___ ( the weevils or snout beetles ), also belongs to this order . The ___MASK84___ comprises the family of the " true " weevils ( or " snout beetles "). It is one of the largest animal families , with 5 , 489 genera and 86 , 100 species described worldwide . A weevil is a type of beetle from the ___MASK73___ superfamily . They are usually small , less than , and herbivorous . Over 60 , 000 species are in several families , mostly in the family ___MASK84___ ( the true weevils ). Some other beetles , although not closely related , bear the name " weevil ", such as the biscuit weevil (" Stegobium paniceum "), which belongs to the family Anobiidae . A weed is a ___MASK87___ considered undesirable in a particular situation , " a ___MASK87___ in the wrong place ". Examples commonly are plants unwanted in human - controlled settings , such as farm fields , gardens , lawns , and parks . Taxonomically , the term " weed " has no botanical significance , because a ___MASK87___ that is a weed in one context is " not " a weed when growing in a situation where it " is " in fact wanted , and where one species of ___MASK87___ is a valuable crop ___MASK87___ , another species in the same genus might be a serious weed , such as a wild bramble growing among cultivated loganberries . Many plants that people widely regard as weeds also are intentionally grown in gardens and other cultivated settings , in which case they are sometimes called beneficial weeds . The term " weed " also is applied to any ___MASK87___ that grows or reproduces aggressively , or is invasive outside its native habitat . More broadly " weed " occasionally is applied pejoratively to species outside the ___MASK87___ kingdom , species that can survive in diverse environments and reproduce quickly ; in this sense it has even been applied to humans . South Africa , officially the Republic of South Africa ( RSA ), is the southernmost country in Africa . It is bounded on the south by of coastline of Southern Africa stretching along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans , on the north by the neighbouring countries of ___MASK89___ , Botswana and Zimbabwe , and on the east and northeast by Mozambique and Swaziland , and surrounding the kingdom of Lesotho . South Africa is the 25th - largest country in the world by land area , and with close to 56 million people , is the world ' s 24th - most populous nation . It is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere . It is the only country that borders both the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean . About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub - Saharan African ancestry , divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different Bantu languages , nine of which have official status . The remaining population consists of Africa ' s largest communities of European ( white ), Asian ( Indian ), and multiracial ( coloured ) ancestry . Integrated pest management ( IPM ), also known as integrated pest control ( IPC ) is a broad - based approach that integrates practices for economic control of pests . IPM aims to suppress pest populations below the economic injury level ( EIL ). The UN ' s Food and Agriculture Organisation defines IPM as " the careful consideration of all available pest control techniques and subsequent integration of appropriate measures that discourage the development of pest populations and keep pesticides and other interventions to levels that are economically justified and reduce or minimize risks to ___MASK83___ health and the environment . IPM emphasizes the growth of a healthy crop with the least possible disruption to agro - ecosystems and encourages natural pest control mechanisms ." Entomologists and ecologists have urged the adoption of IPM pest control since the 1970s . IPM allows for safer pest control . This includes managing ___MASK4___ , plant pathogens and weeds . ___MASK99___ is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants , which include two food crops of high economic importance , the potato and the tomato . It also contains the nightshades and horse nettles , as well as numerous plants cultivated for their ornamental flowers and fruit . ___MASK1___ is a family of beetles . The larvae of a number of species tend to bore into wood , earning them the name " woodworm " or " wood borer ". A few species are pests , causing damage to wooden furniture and house structures , notably the deathwatch beetle , " Xestobium rufovillosum ", and the common furniture beetle , " ___MASK90___ punctatum ". ___MASK99___ mauritianum is a small tree or shrub native to South America , including Northern ___MASK3___ , Southern Brazil , Paraguay and Uruguay . It has become a widespread invasive weed in Azores Islands , Cook Islands , Fiji , Hawai  i , New Caledonia , Norfolk Island , Solomon Islands , Tonga , Réunion Island , Mauritius , Madagascar , Australia , New Zealand , India , Sri Lanka and several southern African countries . Its common names include earleaf nightshade ( or " ear - leaved nightshade "), woolly nightshade , flannel weed , bugweed , tobacco weed , tobacco bush , wild tobacco and kerosene plant . ___MASK4___ ( from Latin ', a calque of Greek ['], " cut into sections ") are a class of invertebrates within the arthropod phylum that have a chitinous exoskeleton , a three - part body ( head , ___MASK63___ and abdomen ), three pairs of jointed legs , compound eyes and one pair of antennae . They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet , including more than a million described species and representing more than half of all known living organisms . The number of extant species is estimated at between six and ten million , and potentially represent over 90 % of the differing animal life forms on Earth . ___MASK4___ may be found in nearly all environments , although only a small number of species reside in the oceans , a habitat dominated by another arthropod group , crustaceans . Biological control is a method of controlling pests such as ___MASK4___ , mites , weeds and plant diseases using other organisms . It relies on predation , parasitism , herbivory , or other natural mechanisms , but typically also involves an active human management role . It can be an important component of integrated pest management ( IPM ) programs . Mites , along with ticks , are small arthropods belonging to the subclass ___MASK38___ ( also known as Acarina ) and the class ___MASK75___ . The scientific discipline devoted to the study of ticks and mites is called acarology . In soil ecosystems , mites are favored by high organic matter content and by moist conditions , wherein they actively engage in the fragmentation and mixing of organic matter . In an ecosystem , predation is a biological interaction where a predator ( an organism that is hunting ) feeds on its prey ( the organism that is attacked ). Predators may or may not kill their prey prior to feeding on them , but the act of predation often results in the death of the prey and the eventual absorption of the prey ' s tissue through consumption . Thus predation is often , though not always , carnivory . Other categories of consumption are herbivory ( eating parts of plants ), fungivory ( eating parts of ___MASK91___ ), and detritivory ( the consumption of dead organic material ). All these consumption categories fall under the rubric of consumer - resource systems . It can often be difficult to separate various types of feeding behaviors . For example , some parasitic species prey on a host organism and then lay their eggs on it for their offspring to feed on it while it continues to live in or on its decaying corpse after it has died . The key characteristic of predation however is the predator ' s direct impact on the prey population . On the other hand , detritivores simply eat dead organic material arising from the decay of dead individuals and have no direct impact on the " donor " organism ( s ). ___MASK88___ is a genus of weevils . This genus includes major agricultural pests such as the boll weevil , strawberry blossom weevil , and pepper weevil , as well as promising biological pest control agents such as ___MASK88___ santacruzi . Rats are various medium - sized , long - tailed rodents of the superfamily ___MASK71___ . " True rats " are members of the genus " Rattus ", the most important of which to humans are the black ___MASK93___ , " Rattus rattus ", and the brown ___MASK93___ , " Rattus norvegicus ". Many members of other rodent genera and families are also referred to as rats , and share many characteristics with true rats . ___MASK88___ santacruzi is a weevil that is a promising biocontrol agent for " ___MASK99___ mauritianum " Scopoli , which is a major ecological weed in high - rainfall regions of South Africa . In biology / ecology , parasitism is a non - mutual relationship between species , where one species , the parasite , benefits at the expense of the other , the host . Traditionally " parasite " ( in biological usage ) referred primarily to organisms visible to the naked eye , or macroparasites ( such as helminths ). Parasites can be microparasites , which are typically smaller , such as ___MASK98___ , viruses , and bacteria . Examples of parasites include the plants mistletoe and ___MASK16___ , and animals such as hookworms .