Diaprepes root weevil
The diaprepes root weevil is a shiny black beetle with stripes of tiny yellow-orange scales. It has a long snout, like all weevils. It comes from the Caribbean islands, where people call it chichí.
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Fun facts
Sticky pads on its feet let it climb even very smooth surfaces.
A mother can lay 5,000 eggs. She glues them inside folded leaves.
After a week the larvae hatch, drop to the ground and dig down to the roots.
It travels to new places by hitchhiking in pots and soil when people move plants.
Scientists fight it with tiny worms that are let loose in the water used for the fields.
Most asked questions about Diaprepes root weevil
?Is the diaprepes root weevil dangerous?
Not to people. But its larvae eat roots and can kill orange trees and other crops.
?How big is the diaprepes root weevil?
The beetle is about 1 centimetre long. Its larva can grow to 2.5 centimetres.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Diaprepes abbreviatus
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Curculionidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Curculionidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Citrus root weevil, Sugarcane rootstock borer weevil
Where the facts come from
- Diaprepes abbreviatus (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 Keith Weller. Public domain, 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.
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