We only have one hollyhock in the garden, but ...

Bugsrus · July 18, 2020

... the hollyhock weevils found it and look like they plan on establishing a local population.

Lord Vetinari · July 19, 2020

Lovely captures Ed.
So the females are "nosier" than the males?

Brian v.

e6filmuser · July 19, 2020

Nice shots, Ed.

I didn't know about this species, although we grow hollyhocks every year.

The long snout is for chewing a hole in the seed to receive an egg.

Harold

Cavalier · July 19, 2020

Great shot(s). I'd never heard of these either.

Poor Hollyhocks - having to endure injury with insult (putting up with Weevil-porn).

Bugsrus · July 20, 2020

Thanks everyone. Harold - I'm not sure if they are found in the U.K. For the biologically inclined, this is Apion longirostre or Rhopalapion longirostre. It is one of the more extreme forms of sexual dimorphism in the coleoptera that I know of. Not only is the nose longer in the female, but the male has a much hairier appendage (no jokes please). The weevils never fail to amaze me. I took some shots of weevils on figwort the other day, only to find that they were very specifically the figwort weevil.

e6filmuser · July 20, 2020

Yes, they have been found in London.

Harold

We only have one hollyhock in the garden, but ...

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