Family: Curculionidae
Subfamily: Curculioninae
Usually 5-12 mm
Around a dozen species of Nut Weevil in the genus Curculio live in West Virginia or nearby states. It should prove fairly easy to identify specimens to genus, but its often hard to identify them to species.
The typical Nut Weevil has a robust body and a long slender snout (rostrum, as it is called among weevil specialists). In females this rostrum is especially long, often longer than the beetle's body. The apex of the female's rostrum includes cutting apparatus that allows the drilling of a deep hole in the nut; eggs are then laid in the hole. Various species specialize in the nuts or acorns of particular species. As with other members of the weevil family, so among the Nut Weevils the antennae arise from the rostrum. In Nut Weevils the antennae are slender and have an oval, ringed club.
Downie & Arnett (1996) list these Curculio species with West Virginia records. The primary food plants are also given:
- Curculio sulcatulus (Oaks, especially Red Oaks)
- Curculio orthorhynchus (several Oak species)
- Curculio obtusus (Hazelnut species)
- Curculio caryae (Hickory species)
- Curculio nasicus (prefers Northern Red Oak)
- Curculio strictus (several species of Oak)
- Curculio proboscideus (Some twenty species of Oak)
- Curculio pardalis (Some twenty species of Oak)
Insects of West Virginia
