Unidentified weevil preparing for take-off - Beds.

[Bruce Williams]

Stockgrove Country Park, Beds. Size ~8-10mm.

Initially on reviewing the take-off pic I thought "eh....only 4 legs?", then I noticed that the middle legs are already raised in preparation for flight .

Help with identification appreciated.



Bruce

[Pudding4brains]

Nice shots (again) Bruce - I think these are totally cute, the way they walk around - very typical leg movements

If you have a better side shot from the hind part of the elytra you may verify that the orangy-brownisher area is indeed a comb of hairs sticking out (I'm pretty sure it is) - that would make it Curculio venosus if I'm not mistaken.

Cheers, Arp

[Bruce Williams]

Thanks Arp. This is the only pic I have that shows the hind part of the elytra - although I'm not sure it helps much. The weevil is just starting to open them in preparation for flight.



Bruce

[Pudding4brains]

Hi Bruce, I would indeed think that to be a comb but I just checked with FE and it seems you have two species I've got no idea about: C. reichei and C. propinquus - have positively no idea what those could look like ... so ...

Except for those two, I'm fairly sure it would be C. venosus, but as you know I'm no expert

Cheers, Arp

[Bruce Williams]

Thanks Arp, I think I can see what you mean about the comb - is it the bristles down the inside edges of the elytra? What would it be used for - cleaning, creating sound???

Bruce

[Pudding4brains]

Hi Bruce, the "comb" (also on a Curculio venosus) is outlined here - from this thread about some Curculio larvae I had reared that delivered two venosus and one glandium (without the comb and with a more squarish hairy patch on the scutellum).

[Bruce Williams]

Thanks Arp that's very helpful - and an interesting link too (with the help of Google translation and a bit of "intelligent" guessing).

Bruce