Health & Fitness
The Very "Cute" Acorn Weevil
The cool acorn weevil is just about everywhere there are acorns.
If you live anywhere that there are acorns, you are almost certain to have acorn weevils. But they are very small and without searching for them, they can be easily overlooked.
These small insects are actually beetles. There are more than 35,000 species of weevils worldwide and more than 2,500 in North America. Many are quite destructive and awful agricultural pests. The acorn weevils are in the Genus Curculio and are easily recognized by their long snouts. Because of the long snout and big eyes they are often described as "cute."
As the common name suggests, their life-history is closely tied to acorns (a bit of a misnomer since various species can be found on lots of other tree nuts). The long snout is an evolutionary adaptation to feeding on nuts. They use the long snout to feed on the nut meat inside the acorn shell. The end of the snout is somewhat saw-like and is used by the weevil to drill a hole into the acorn shell to allow access to the nutmeat. I've never seen it, but I've read that they spin around using the saw-like teeth at the end of the snout as a drill until they pierce through the shell. Then they push the long snout into the hole and feed on the acorn meat. Their mouth is at the end of the snout so being able to get it down inside the acorn as far as possible allows access to more of the tasty nutmeat.
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The females also lay eggs in the acorn by making a hole with a long ovipositor (the female egg-laying body part in insects). The eggs hatch shortly afterwards into larvae that feed on the acorn meat. Once they are large enough, they cut or chew a hole through the acorn shell, climb out, and drop to the ground where they burrow into the soil and pupate over the winter. They emerge as adults the following year once the acorns have developed to start the acorn-based life cycle again.
If you are lucky to find one while raking leaves this fall take a close look at it. They are harmless and will simply wander around your hand. Let us know if you think they are "cute" at friends.ebec@gmail.com
