Saturday, February 6, 2016

Giraffe Weevil.

This is an unusual beetle found in Yeoor hills (Sanjay Gandhi National Park, India) called “Giraffe Weevil”. It is called as giraffe as its abnormal long neck. It is very tiny insect just less than one centimeter, but very colorful and active. Its flight was also very funny and wobbling.


These are types of beetles known as weevils or snout beetles or elephant beetles due to their long mouth parts. These weevils are minute to large species as much as three inches. One of the commonest weevils we can easily find in our wheat grains. Many of this species are wingless but many others fly well. Males and females are usually similar in appearance. In some species male can be easily distinguished by the form of the snout, forelegs or antennae. The legs are moderately long for walking.


Normally these weevils lay eggs on the plants or inside the plants. But this particular species prepare cases of green leaf. First the leaf is cut across near the base, the cut reaching to the midrib or crossing the midrib from one margin only. Then it is folded vertically and the tips rolled in; an egg is then laid and the rolling process continues till the leaf, up to the cut. This forms a compact cylindrical roll with the egg deposited in the centre. No silk or gum is used and the insect works with legs and jaws in folding and packing the leaf. The roll is left hanging to the remainder of the leaf, the egg hatches and the grub feed on the leaf inside the roll. The roll subsequently dries and falls off with the pupa inside. August / September are the perfect month to observe these rolls and the adult insects in our forests.


As a defense mechanism, weevils have the habit of “shamming dead” when disturbed, the legs and antennae get folded close to the body and the insect drops to the ground. It is very difficult to find the insect in the thick vegetation.

Yuwaraj Gurjar.
www.yuwarajgurjar.com

21 comments:

  1. WOW! This is such a FANTASTIC and interesting post. The Giraffe Weevil is definitely clever and hard working and hats off to your observation! Must be really interesting to see them prepare the cases to lay the eggs...wish to see them someday. So much to learn. Thanks for sharing!!
    Have a great sunday!

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  2. Yuwaraj Uncle,

    I loved this post.The Giraffe Weevil looks and I found it funny..pretending to be dead :)
    Uncle, how can the leaf stay in place when they don't use any gum can you please tell me?

    Diya

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    1. There are so many natural weavers in the nature. They use their saliva or many other substances like silk, web threads to stitch the things

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  3. Wow, this is an interesting little creature - I've never seen one like this before!

    Judith

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  4. So very cool!
    Thank you for sharing this fascinating post at http://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2016/02/potted.html

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  5. Hello, great post and awesome photos. Happy Tuesday, enjoy your day!

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  6. wonderful photos! what an interesting creature!

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  7. Great photos. Thanks for the introduction about this most unusual weevil.

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  8. Wonderful to see you and these wonderful macros and info about this insect... Michelle

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  9. My goodness how grand your photos! They take my breath away! Thank you!

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  10. Marvelous! Such good photos of such a tiny creature.

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  11. He is so cool! Never seen such!

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  12. Fascinating post! Love the photos and the info was great!

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  13. This was super interesting and I loved the photos too!

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