Need Help ID These Bugs?
Location: Indialantic, Florida
April 4, 2012 8:53 am
Can Somebody please help me identify these bugs? I saw the white bug on pine needle and the small one that looks like a fly on this yellow flower.
Signature: ADubin

Yellow Headed Ravenous Weevil

Dear ADubin,
Your white insect is an invasive exotic species commonly called the Sri Lanka Weevil or Yellow Headed Ravenous Weevil, Myllocerus undecimpustulatus, and we identified it on BugGuide where it is stated:  “in FL, recorded from 55 host plant spp., from palms to roadside weeds, including citrus.”  This article from the University of Florida has some additional information, however, pine is not mentioned as a host plant.  Here is another online article from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Conservation.  Invasive species that pose a threat to agriculture or native plants are often well documented on the internet.  We will try to identify your other submission and we will post it separately.     

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What on earth is this??
Location: Bensalem, PA
March 8, 2012 9:13 am
A friend of mine took a picture of this bug while he was at an ATM in Bensalem, PA. It was on the ATM itself. This was taken either at the end of Feruary or the beginning of March.
Signature: Bill O’Neill

Acorn Weevil

Dear Bill,
This long nosed creature is a Nut or Acorn Weevil in the genus Curculio.  According to BugGuide:  “Female uses her long snout for boring into nuts/acorns, and deposits eggs there. Larvae feed inside the acorn/nut and emerges to pupate in the soil.”

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?
Location: Saint Petersburg, FL
February 12, 2012 7:43 pm
Hi Bugman,
I have a couple bugs that are tiny and white / gray in color. I believe last nights temperatures, 35f here in Saint Petersburg, FL, caused a ton of these weevils? to fall out of an oak tree that hangs over our backyard driveway.
The other picture is of something I cannot explain. I very slow moving bug that inches along with a snout that acts like a worm, dragging behind it is a flat white body that looks like white lent. They seem to travel up the walls inside the patio and garage and attach to a surface with a strand of silk and hang there until they die. The lifecycle seems strange, because I figured they would attach, coccon and molt into something, but that doesn’t seem the case. Any ideas?
Signature: WTBFan

Little Leaf Notcher Weevil

Dear WTBFan,
Your pale gray weevil is either a native Little Leaf Notcher Weevil, Artipus floridanus, (see BugGuide), or the invasive, exotic Sri Lanka Weevil, Myllocerus undecimpustulatus, which according to BugGuide, is “similar to Artipus floridanus but has spines on the hind femur and a yellowish tint to the head.”  There is not enough detail in your photo for us to be able to say for certain which species this is, though one of our readers with more experience might be able to provide a more conclusive identification.  Your other submission is a Case Bearing Moth Larva.  

I do appreciate the response.  I read about this invasive version of the weevil through one of your responses to another reader, but only after I had already snapped the pictures, and researched bugguide (I like their visual anatomy index).  I don’t remember seeing the yellow tent, though I wasn’t looking for it, so I could have easily missed it.  As for the other submission, I just wanted to send a better picture of the 2nd bug and the source of my frustration (they come out of the floorboard / wall seemingly in enough numbers to be noticed everyday.) Again I appreciate the response, first time submitter, but I’ve known about your site for years.  Keep up the good work.
Don

Thanks Don,
Just take a look at this Case Bearing Moth Larvae situation.

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What’s this white bug….
Location: Naples, FL
December 15, 2011 12:55 pm
I have found a few of these white ”ladybug” type insects on my Hybiscus tree in Naples FL. It is December (winter in Paradise). They are about the size of a small ladybug….it doesn’t look like they have eaten any of the leaves…you have to zoom in to see it better.
Signature: SherrieB

Sri Lanka Weevil

Dear SherrieB,
This appears to be a Little Leaf Notcher Weevil, Artipus floridanus, a native species found in “hammock, pineland, mangrove” and considered to be “a minor pest of Citrus and other plants” according to BugGuide.  We wish your photo was a closer view because we cannot,  however, discount that this might actually be an invasive species, the Sri Lanka Weevil or Yellow-headed Ravenous Weevil, Myllocerus undecimpustulatus, which is also pictured on BugGuide where it is stated:  “in FL, recorded from 55 host plant spp., from palms to roadside weeds, including citrus.”

Thanks, I believe that the head is white, so it’sprobably a Little Leaf Notcher Weevil….I checked it  with a magnifying glass. I appreciate your time  SherrieB

Hi again SherrieB,
A reader just left a comment that this is the Sri Lanka Weevil.  We have requested additional information.

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