View source for Zyzzyva

{{Short description|Genus of beetles}}
{{For|the magazine|Zyzzyva (magazine)}}
{{Distinguish|Zyzzyzus}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| image = Zyzzyva sp., lateral view, SG-BCISP-7750.jpg
| display_parents = 2
| taxon = Zyzzyva
| authority = Casey, 1922
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision = 
* ''Z. rufula'' <small>Hustache 1951</small> 
* ''Z. ochreotecta'' {{small|Casey, 1922}}
| type_species = ''[[Zyzzyva ochreotecta]]''
| type_species_authority = Casey, 1922
}}

'''''Zyzzyva''''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|z|ɪ|z|ᵻ|v|ə}} is a [[genus]] of South American [[weevil]]s, often found on or near [[Arecaceae|palm]] trees.<ref name="Andrews 2017">{{cite news |author-last=Andrews |author-first=Travis M. |date=2017-06-27 |newspaper=Washington Post |title=The Oxford English Dictionary has a new last word. Bet you can't pronounce it. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/06/27/the-oxford-english-dictionary-has-a-new-last-word-bet-you-cant-pronounce-it/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170627114132/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/06/27/the-oxford-english-dictionary-has-a-new-last-word-bet-you-cant-pronounce-it/ |url-status=live |archive-date=2017-06-27 |access-date=2021-06-27}}</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"/>{{rp|2,369}}

Casey describes ''Zyzzyva ochreotecta'' in his book ''Memoirs on the Coleoptera, Volume 10'':<ref name="Casey 1922">{{cite book|title=Memoirs on the Coleoptera|volume= 10 |author-last=Casey |author-first=Thomas L. |author-link=Thomas Lincoln Casey Jr.  |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15912352 |date=1922 |location=Lancaster, PA |publisher=New Era |doi=10.5962/bhl.title.15993 |id={{BHL page|15912352}}}}</ref>{{rp|369–370}}  
{{blockquote|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.}}

== Etymology ==
''Zyzzyva'' has achieved notoriety for being the last word in several [[English-language]] [[dictionary|dictionaries]].<ref name="Martin 2017">{{cite web |author-first=Katherine Connor |author-last=Martin |date=2017-06-16 |title=New words notes June 2017 |url=https://public.oed.com/blog/june-2017-update-new-words-notes/ |url-status=live |access-date=2021-06-27 |website=Oxford English Dictionary |publisher=Oxford University |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210627082707/https://public.oed.com/blog/june-2017-update-new-words-notes/ |archive-date=2021-06-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=What is the absolute last word in any dictionary? |website=Dictionary.com |url=http://dictionary.reference.com/help/faq/language/w41.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140823161235/http://dictionary.reference.com/help/faq/language/w41.html |archive-date=2014-08-23 |access-date=2021-06-27}}</ref><ref name="Storer 1981">{{cite news |title=He Looks Like A Pig, A Bear, Kangaroo... |department=Amazing But True |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ptFaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pVkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5382%2C2577210 |newspaper=The Evening Independent |location=St. Petersburg, FL |date=1981-04-24 |author-last=Storer |author-first=Doug |author-link=Doug Storer |page=6-B |access-date=2021-06-27}}</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>{{Cite web |title=Zyzzyva T.L.Casey, 1922 |url=https://www.gbif.org/species/1228116 |access-date=2024-11-23 |website=www.gbif.org |language=en}}</ref>
*''[[Zyzzyva ochreotecta]]'' <small>Casey, 1922</small>
*''[[Zyzzyva rufula]]'' <small>Hustache, 1951</small>
*''[[Zyzzyva squamosa]]'' <small>(C.H.Boheman, 1844)</small>

== See also ==
* ''[[Aaaaba]]''
* ''[[Aaadonta]]''
* ''[[Zyzzogeton]]'', a leafhopper, another "last entry"
* ''[[Zyzzyxdonta alata]]''
* ''[[Zyzzyzus]]''
* ''[[Zzyzx (disambiguation)]]''

== References ==
{{Wiktionary|zyzzyva}}
{{Reflist}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q1316470}}

[[Category:Baridinae genera]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Thomas Lincoln Casey Jr.]]


{{Baridinae-stub}}