Weevils are the largest family of beetles on our amazing planet. Due to the elongated head in a funny proboscis, this family of beetles is called elephants or nosaty. The first fossil species were discovered in Mongolia, whose age is 145 million years. In total, 508 fossil species were discovered, and now zoologists isolate 70 thousand species of these entertaining insects. It is impossible to reach everyone, therefore, in our article the most beautiful weevils in the world.
1
Fruited walnut / Curculio nucum
We begin our story on most-beauty with the most typical type of weevil, which is not without charm. A small body is covered with golden scales. On the pronotum, these scales form longitudinal stripes, and on the wings are yellow spots.
Adult specimens do not grow more than 9 mm. Widespread begot in the oak forests of Europe. In Russia, if you look closely, you can meet him in the Crimea, the Caucasus and the European part of the country.
After wintering, it abundantly eats leaves and fruits of hazel. Favorite delicacy is hazel, hazelnuts, and sometimes it can gnaw hard acorn.
2
Apple Blossom / Anthonomus pomorum
Dangerous agricultural pests settled throughout the world, especially in places where apple orchards are spread. It affects domestic pears and apple trees, but can also live on wild species.
Small, only 4-5 mm weevils, have a brownish-brown color and a pronounced elongated head. On the shields are light stripes framed by a black border. Male and female can be distinguished by the length of these strips, as in females they are longer.
The larva eats the ovary of the buds of fruit trees, but the adults destroy the leaves.
3
Big pine elephant / Hylobius abietis
The large beetle reaches a size of 14 mm, and yellow hair and scales are located on the dark body. There are noticeable small dimples on the entire surface of the food.
They appear at the end of April, when the temperature warms up above 15–160 ° С. Already in June, it lays eggs in stumps or tree bark. All development from larva to adult takes 1–1.5 years.
Interestingly, the larva feeds only on the roots of conifers, but the adult beetle is omnivorous. It eats not only the bark of conifers, but also easily gnaws holes in oak, alder and birch. One condition is if these trees grow close to coniferous stands.
4
Clover / Protapion apricans
A cute looking bug is actually a dangerous pest. From the name it can be seen that it harms mainly sowing and wild clover. He gnaws small holes in the leaves with his proboscis.
It grows no more than 3.5 mm, but one larva of the eater can destroy 11 to 15 ovaries. The pear-shaped body is usually black, but the antennae and legs are orange.
It hibernates in clover fields, burrowing into the soil by 5 cm. In temperate regions, it can overwinter in forest plantations along roads under fallen leaves.
5
Trichalophus leucon
Siberian weevil is the most common species of the Trichalophus mountain family. Inhabited almost all mixed, dark coniferous and broad-leaved plain forests of western Siberia.
Climbing into gardens and home gardens, begins to eat leaves of currants, raspberries, as well as leaves of fruit trees. Up to 6 individuals can coexist on one bush of currant, so their population is quite large.
Discovered a new weevil in 1834, the famous explorer of Altai Friedrich August von Gebler, who in the vastness of Russia was called Fedor Vasilyevich.
By the way, on our site most-beauty.ru there is an interesting article about the beautiful places of the Altai Mountains, which everyone is obliged to visit.
6
Frachnik ordinary / Lixus iridis
An unusual elongated beetle habitat chose the warm regions of Europe and Asia. It occurs in the Middle East. Named after the Iris plant.
Adults grow up to 22 mm in length, and the pronotum has a conical shape. Color is yellow or gray-yellow. Elytra strongly elongated, and tarsi thin and long.
Adult beetles and developing larvae actively eat the ovary and leaves of plants from the umbrella family. Getting on gardens, harms crops of carrots, parsley, celery.
7
Salt point / Pissodes notatus
It is very difficult to find this beetle on the soil or among the branches of shrubs, since it has a very unusual color, adapted to the environment.
Belongs to the large genus Smolevok, and populated the expanses of Europe, the Far East and Siberia. Large populations live in North Africa, and man artificially brought it to the island of Madeira.
They grow no more than 4-7 mm. It got its name due to the fact that an adult beetle, gnawing a tree bark, leaves a drop of shiny resin.
8
Five-pointed weevil / Tychius quinquepunctatus L.
Settled around the planet, and is the main pest of legumes. It harms plantations of peas, lentils, ranks, by eating leaves, and also gnaws holes in the stems.
They grow up to 4 mm in length, but the larva is 5–7 mm, and it eats the insides of the grain. On top of a small body is covered with reddish scales. The bottom of the abdomen is white, and on the elytra there are two spots.
They hibernate in the soil and creep out to the surface when the temperature warms up to 120 ° C. After the first shoots of peas, one can observe the active migration of the Five-pointed weevil to the places of crop sowing.
9
Apple mowing / Otiorhynchus cribricollis
Brilliant, like a varnished beetle, belongs to the Entiminae family, and was discovered for the first time in 1834.
The Mediterranean region is considered the historical homeland, but by chance, most likely, when importing fruits, it came to North America. It has taken root in a new place, and now is a danger to agricultural plantations.
Weevil, up to 8 mm in size, eats the vine, the bark of fruit trees. They lead a nocturnal lifestyle, and during the day they hide in the grass and under the fallen leaves.
By the way, about the most beautiful trees for the garden on our site most-beauty.ru there is interesting material.
10
Frachnik omezhnikovy / Lixus paraplecticus
Another unusual and beautiful frockman who leads an active lifestyle from early June to September. In winter, hibernates.
The classification included him the legendary Swedish scientist Karl Linney in 1758. The body length reaches 24 mm. The color is yellow, and the upper body is lighter than the abdomen. Sometimes on the upper part you can see dark stripes.
These weevils have pronounced, elongated elytra. The range is quite extensive, from the expanses of Siberia to the countries of Northern Europe. In Sweden and England it is considered a rare species.
11
Silver Weevil / Phyllobius argentatus
This beetle is also called golden leaf weevil, as it settles on the leaves of trees. Belongs to bevels.
A small body, only 3-6 mm, is covered with golden scales, which give the beetle an unusual beautiful appearance. Paws and long antennae yellow. The eyes are quite large in relation to the body.
It occurs in European countries, and Russia has settled broad-leaved forests of the central part of the country. There are small populations in the North Caucasus.
12
Bark beetle typographer / Ips typographus
This bug got to our list because of its unusual appearance and name. Large spruce bark beetle populated the coniferous forests of Eurasia, and is considered one of the most dangerous pests of forest plantations.
He has a cylindrical, thickened body, with a length of 4 to 5.5 mm. It feeds on the bast, gnawing bizarre labyrinths under the bark of coniferous trees. It was artificially brought to North America, where the beetle also entered the list of dangerous pests.
It settles most often in spruce forests, but does not disdain to live among cedar stands and larch. The danger is also that it can settle in forest stands where coniferous trees are processed and stored.
13
Goose Elephant / Rhynchites bacchus
These bugs grow up to 7 mm, and harm almost all fruit trees. Settle on apple trees, pears, plums, apricots, peaches.
It is distinguished by a brilliant, reddish little body, and its antennae and rostrum are purple. They creep out in early spring and eat kidneys before the fruits appear. During fruit ripening, eggs are laid. The female gnaws a small chamber in the fruits, where she places the future offspring.
Fruits damaged by a goose elephant begin to rot and fall off without ripening. The fact is that the female, at the time of laying the eggs, gnaws not only the flesh, but also the stalk.
14
Giraffe weevil / Trachelophorus giraffa
The most original bug of all variety. The scientific name Trachelophorus giraffe received due to the elongated pronotum and head resembling the neck of a giraffe.
In addition, this is one of the largest representatives of the family, growing up to 2.5 cm in the body itself is black, but the elytra are bright red. The pronotum and head in males reaches a length of 18 mm, but in females such a “neck” is slightly shorter.
It is found only in Madagascar, endemic to this wonderful island. He prefers to settle on trees and shrubs of dense forests, because he eats only vegetation.
Interesting Facts
After presenting a photo and description of weevils, we will tell you some interesting facts about these unusual but harmful insects.
- The exact number of species of amazing beetles with long proboscis is very arbitrary, because every year entomologists discover 1-2 new species.
- Weevils do not directly harm humans, but they are able to completely destroy agricultural crops and harm fruit and berry plantations. Pest control with insecticides.
- In the US city of Enterprise, local farmers erected a monument to the cotton weevil. The monument appeared after the insect destroyed the cotton crops. Paradox, pest monument. But the farmers were grateful to the bug, since, having switched from cotton to other crops, they quickly got rich.
- In the subtropics, weevils can be found, the sizes of which reach 5-6 cm. Such giants of the insect world easily deal with crops of crops.
- Useful species live in Brazil and Australia that help farmers to destroy weed fields.
- In the vastness of Russia about 5 thousand species of weevils live. Two species of useful weevil beetles were imported from Brazil to the country, which destroy salvia harmful in ponds.
But do you know how some plants grow? We will show you in this article.
Conclusion
So we examined the most beautiful weevils. As you can see, and dangerous pests can be attractive in their own way. The whole huge family of weevils is represented by two large groups. The first is short proboscis, and the second is long proboscis. But these cute bugs, as you can see, differ not only in the length of the proboscis, but also in the shape and color of the body.
Below we want to place some more beautiful photos of weevils:
That's all for now! We are waiting for your comments on the article.