Genus Rhynchophorus

Worldwide, there are ten species of the genus Rhynchophorus that feed on palms.

Length from tip of rostrum to end of pygidium (the tergum of the last visible segment of the abdomen) ranges from 19 to 30 mm.

Adults vary in color from solid black to almost completely red with a variable black pattern. Males and females can be distinguished by the surface of the rostrum. The rostrum of males are covered with tiny bumps while females have a smooth, shiny rostrum.

Larvae legless and creamy to yellowish in color. Their prominent head is dark brown and very hard. Mature larvae can be quite large, some with a mass close to six grams.

It has been reported from coastal South Carolina south through the Florida Keys, and west into coastal Texas. Fossil records suggest that the palmetto weevil was present in Florida during the Pleistocene (about 1 million years ago).

Several species of palms.

Complete life cycle: with an egg, several larval instars, prepupal, pupal, and adult stages. Eggs are laid in the bases of leaves or in wounds in a dying host palm. In the laboratory, a palmetto weevil female will lay an average of 207 eggs in her lifetime. Eggs hatch in about three days and begin to feed on palm tissue. As they molt (grow) the larvae have an increasingly large appetite and tend to feed primarily in the soft tissue surrounding the apical meristem. Mature grubs migrate to the periphery of the stem or petioles and prepare a cocoon from palm fibers. After surrounding themselves with the cocoon, the larvae enter a prepupal stage, then a pupal stage. After a few weeks, an adult emerges from the pupal case and may immediately break free of the cocoon or wait within the cocoon for several days before emerging. The entire life cycle, from egg to adult, takes about 84 days. Adults may live for several weeks (up to 26 weeks in captivity).

Although we are aware of no human consumption of palmetto weevil in the United States, larvae of palm weevils are considered a delicacy in other locations.