Strawberry blossom weevil

The strawberry blossom weevil is a tiny black beetle with a long snout and a coat of fine grey hairs. It is smaller than a grain of rice. Strawberry farmers know it well, because it can ruin a whole crop of berries.

How big is it?
How long is it?
How big is Strawberry blossom weevil compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
The mother lays one egg inside each closed flower bud and then bites the stalk so the bud falls over.
The white baby grows inside the wilting bud and eats it.
In some places it can destroy up to 80 out of every 100 strawberries.
It finds strawberry plants by their smell. The boys then give off their own smell that calls more weevils.
In 2019 it was found in North America for the first time, in Canada.
Most asked questions about Strawberry blossom weevil
?Why are there no berries on my strawberry plants?
One reason can be the strawberry blossom weevil. It bites through the flower buds so they hang down and never become berries.
?How big is the strawberry blossom weevil?
Only 2 to 4 millimetres long, smaller than a grain of rice.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Anthonomus rubi
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Curculionidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Curculionidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, North America
- Also known as
- Strawberry-blossom weevil
Where the facts come from
- Anthonomus rubi (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 James K. Lindsey. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
Bug Wiki honey jar For grown-ups: Bug Wiki is free, with no ads and no tracking. A small tip helps keep it online.Leave a tip