Acorn WeevilCurculio glandium
Quick facts
- Rarity
- Common
- Active during
- Afternoon
- Found in
- Lotsamoss Woods
- Length
- 0.5 in
- Wingspan
- 0.4 in
From the field notes
Diet
These beetles are obsessed with oak trees! They use their long snout (a rostrum) like a tiny drill, boring right through the tough outer shell of a green acorn to snack on the nutritious nut hidden inside.
Defense
When startled, acorn weevils play dead. They tuck their spindly legs in tight, roll right off their branch, and plummet into the leaf litter below to wait you out.
The Nursery
A female weevil will bore all the way through to the center of an acorn to lay a single egg. This strategy provides her offspring with protection and food when it hatches.
Hibernation
When the larva eats its way out of the acorn, it burrows underground, where it enters a state of suspended animation. It remains dormant in the dark for up to two years before finally pupating and emerging as an adult.
Field Marks
It is easily recognized by its long, curved snout. To lay eggs in large acorns, a female's snout can even be longer than her entire body. This structure is not a nose at all; it is a rigid elongation of the head, with jaws right at the very tip.