''Sphenophorus coesifrons'', or the oblite billbug, is a species of

beetle Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

in the family

Dryophthoridae Dryophthorinae is a weevil subfamily within the family Curculionidae. While it is not universally accepted as distinct from other curculionid subfamilies, at least one major recent revision elevated it to family rank, as DryophthoridaeAlonso-Zara ...

. It is found in North America. Its length ranges from about a quarter to five-sixteenths of an inch, and it closely resembles the bluegrass billbug, from which it can be distinguished by its shorter and much heavier beak.Alfred F. Satterthwait, "How to Control Billbugs Destructive to Cereal and Forage Crops", in ''Farmers' Bulletin'', No. 1003, U. S. Department of Agriculture, pp. 1–22 (1919, revised 1932), at pp. 18, 19. The oblite billbug can be found from Maryland and Wisconsin in the north to the

Gulf Coast The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South or the South Coast, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Tex ...

and Arizona in the south. As of 1924, its natural food was unknown, but it had been reared in

timothy Timothy is a masculine name. It comes from the Greek language, Greek name (Timotheus (disambiguation), Timόtheos) meaning "honouring God", "in God's honour", or "honoured by God". Timothy (and its variations) is a common name in several countries ...

in the midwestern states of Illinois and Michigan. It was considered extremely destructive to

corn Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout Poaceae, grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago ...

along the Gulf Coast, and was recorded destroying the first and second plantings. Female oblite billbugs were observed laying eggs in late summer, and in captivity the young were slow in developing, spending at least five months in the larval stage. Its life cycle was expected to resemble that of the bluegrass billbug in the northern part of its range, while in the south eggs would be laid in late summer or fall, allowing the young to overwinter as larvae, pupae, or adults.

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