Weevil - unnamed 2

These very small weevils - about 2.5 mm in length - were photographed on Ribwort Plantain, one of its favourite food sources.

Species introduction

At a glance
Latin name: 
Mecinus pascuorum
Family: 
Weevils
Family Latin name: 
CURCULIONIDAE
Category: 
Insects other

Species description

Species description

This very small weevil - about 2.5 mm in length - was photographed on Ribwort Plantain, one of its favourite food sources. They are widespread in England and Wales. 

This weevil is distinguishable from Mecinus pyraster because of its smaller size and the red tint to its body.

Species photographs

Larger photograph(s) (click to magnify)

Details

Species family information

Weevils are also called 'Snout beetles', many of which have unusual downward-curving snouts with elbowed antennae. Most feed on plants and can be major pests of cultivated plants. They are harmless to people. These small insects belong to a large family of perhaps 80,000 species worldwide.

Category information

Insects evolved in the Ordovician from a crustacean ancestral lineage as terrestrial invertebrates with six legs (the Hexapoda). This was the time when terrestrial plants first appeared. In the Devonian some insects developed wings and flight, the first animals to do so. An early flying group was the Odonata from the Carboniferous, the damselflies and dragonflies, which have densely-veined wings and long, ten-segmented bodies. They are day-flying carnivores, with an aquatic larval stage, so are commonly seen flying near water. The carnivorous larvae are called nymphs. Odonata species are short-lived, damselflies surviving for 2-4 weeks, dragonflies for up to 2 months.

Some insect groups in the Cretaceous co-evolved with the flowering plants, and they have had a close association ever since. These groups are the Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ants), the Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), the Diptera (flies), and the Coleoptera (beetles). The diversity of beetles is astonishing. Of all the known animal species on the planet, one in five is a beetle!