Zyzzyva

Zyzzyva /ˈzɪzɪvə/ is a genus of South American weevils, often found on or near palm trees.

[1] It was first described in 1922 by Thomas Lincoln Casey Jr., based on specimens obtained in Brazil by Herbert Huntingdon Smith.

[2]: 2, 369 Casey describes Zyzzyva ochreotecta in his book Memoirs on the Coleoptera, Volume 10:[2]: 369–370 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.

[3][4][5] Casey is commonly credited with naming the genus, although the etymology of the word is unclear.

[5][3][1] One theory is that the word was inspired by Zyzza, a former genus of leafhoppers.