Gorse seed weevil
The gorse seed weevil is a tiny light grey beetle with a long snout, half as long as its body. It is smaller than a grain of rice. People use it as a helper to stop a prickly bush called gorse from spreading too much.
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Fun facts
When it feeds, it leaves little round holes in the gorse stems and spines.
Its larva hatches right inside a gorse seed pod and eats the seeds for six to eight weeks.
After that, the larva rests for about two months while it turns into a beetle.
People brought it to New Zealand in 1931 and to California in the 1950s to stop gorse spreading.
It does not kill the gorse bushes. It only eats the seeds, so fewer new bushes grow.
Most asked questions about Gorse seed weevil
?What does the gorse seed weevil eat?
Gorse. The adults chew stems and spines and the larvae eat the seeds.
?How big is the gorse seed weevil?
Only 2 to 3 millimetres long.
?Why do people use gorse seed weevils?
Gorse is a weed in some countries. The weevils eat its seeds, so it spreads less.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Exapion ulicis
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Brentidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Brentidae
- Lives on
- Europe, North America, Australia and Oceania
Where the facts come from
- Exapion ulicis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Desmond W. Helmore. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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