Milkweed Stem Weevil - Rhyssomatus palmacollis

Moved

… tom murray, 25 January, 2009 - 7:09pm

Rh. palmacollis (Say, 1831)

… v belov, 25 January, 2009 - 6:25pm

Oh, my!

How do you tell the difference between these two species? Are there other misplaced ones? Any info that we can add to the info page? Thanks.
Tom: are you telling Texas ento to change the name on your image?

… Beatriz Moisset, 25 January, 2009 - 7:21pm

Only mottled northeast species

That's what v says on this picture.
If Mike Quinn has his subscription turned on he should see that the Texas ento page should be changed. If he doesn't reply in a day or so, I'll email him.

… tom murray, 25 January, 2009 - 7:28pm

Rhyssomatus lineaticollis

Rhyssomatus lineaticollis (Say)

Family Curculionidae, Subfamily Curculioninae, Tribe Molytini

Milkweed Stem Weevil

Photos

More photos from Cedar Creek,

Huge photo!

Rhyssomatus lineaticollis (Coleoptera), are weevils that primarily feed on the stems of A. syriaca. Adults initially feed on the apical leaves and then, after feeding, female weevils walk to lower parts of the stem and chew several sequential holes in the stem, creating a continuous scar. Females lay a single egg per hole and larvae complete development inside the stem while feeding on pith tissue. Oviposition scar length is an accurate predictor of the number of eggs laid by the adult female. (Agrawal, 2005)

MQ, Austin

Texas Beetle Info
TexasEnto.net/beetles.htm

… Mike Quinn, 29 December, 2005 - 10:59am

Milkweed Stem Weevil

That makes sense, and these were fairly common in the milkweed patches. Thanks for the info Mike.

… tom murray, 29 December, 2005 - 5:43pm

Cool behavior!

This weevil is draining the milkweed of its toxic latex. It will either feed, oviposit, or both, above the area it has notched, so as not to poison itself. Just an excellent shot, Tom.

… Eric R. Eaton, 13 June, 2005 - 5:33pm

So that's what is going on he

So that's what is going on here. Thanks for the explanation Eric.

… tom murray, 13 June, 2005 - 9:33pm