Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar

TaxonomyBrowseInfoImagesLinksBooksData
Photo#37640
Star Thistle  Weevil - Eustenopus villosus

Star Thistle Weevil - Eustenopus villosus
Cool, El Dorado County, California, USA
September 8, 2003
Size: 6.5 mm
Taken from Yellow Star Thistle plants with sweep net.

I was told by locals this was the species introduced to control this introduced plant, but a Web image search reveals it is not Banga*sternus orient*alis, which has a far shorter snout.

Images of this individual: tag all
Star Thistle  Weevil - Eustenopus villosus Star Thistle Weevil - Eustenopus villosus

Moved

dramatic, but in scale
Dear Jim,
weevils with the vestiture torn away always look really strange, and you will likely find more of them to the end of their season.

I´d opt for Eustenopus, for following reasons:
a) size, body and rostrum form are the same;
b) it can still be recognized, that the main vestiture is yellowish, except on sides and around 3rd interspace, where it is whitish;
c) with some imagination, traces of bristles can be seen also.

regards, Boris

Eustenopus villosus?
Hi Jim,

it may be that species - just old specimens, in which the long hairs rubbed off.

 
That would be a dramatic change in appearance.
I found a large image of that species at http://wric.ucdavis.edu/yst/images/clark/clark8.jpg and a good writeup on a US Army site, http://el.erdc.usace.army.mil/pmis/biocontrol/html/eustenop.html

Next time I'm in Cool I will make a point of collecting some more. Maybe they will be more hairy.

Comment viewing options
Select your preferred way to display the comments and click 'Save settings' to activate your changes.