Something is in Deez Nuts! (Acorn Weevils)

This week is a special listener request for Acorn Weevils! The cute little beetles that use acorns as their safe spaces during development. The focus for today's episode is on the Northen acorn weevils scientifically known as Curculio glandium. Support the show :) -> https://www.patreon.com/user?u=46499107 IG: https://www.instagram.com/insects4fun/ FB: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100085443614825 Email: Insectsfordummies@gmail.com Featured Artists: Prigida, Sleepermane, and S N U G Transcript: Welcome to episode 38 of Insects for Fun! Today’s episode was actually a listener request sent to me via IG by Dean F! Without further ado let’s start the episode. The acorn weevil is the first weevil to be featured on this podcast and it is possibly the cutest weevil to ever exist. If you haven’t seen it then please give it a google or check out the IG or FB page and drop a comment letting me know what you think! Now because this is the first time we are talking about Weevils I will now just go over the very basics. Weevils are beetles within the family curculionidae and as with other beetles, weevils go through complete metamorphosis and they can be found worldwide except for… well, you know what I’m talking about. Now what makes weevils really cool is their modified head. They all have snouts which are called rostrums and at the end of this rostrum is a functional mouth part which they use to feed on plants. These guys happen to be herbivores so there is no need to worry that they will pierce you the same way some true bugs might like kissing bugs for example. The females also usually have longer rostrums than males do which they use to help them prepare an egg laying site. Acorn weevils as the name suggests are weevils which feed on and use acorns for their young, but they are actually divided into two different genera. The first are referred to as long-snouted and belong to the genus curculio and the second are short-snouted weevils in the genus Conotrachelus. Not every species within these genera are restricted to acorns though which is why they are also often referred to as nut weevils. Actually, most of today’s episode will be focused around one of the 36 species within the genus Curculio because the other genus Conotrachelus has over 1000 species and there is much we don’t know. One thing we do know is that these short-snouted weevils cannot bore holes into nuts themselves, and as a result can only use acorns and other hard nuts if they’ve been previously damaged. Most of the time these weevils will lay their eggs on soft fruits and the larvae bore holes into those and feed on the flesh of the fruit until they are ready to pupate in the ground. We also know that species within this genus can be found from Canada down to Argentina! Curculio weevils on the other hand are found in North America and Europe but don’t have a range as far south. These ones can also actually make holes in acorns and other hard nuts using a saw-like mouth at the end of their long snouts or rostrum. This is accomplished by doing circular motions with their mouth steady on the acorn until they’ve successfully created a small hole. Once this is accomplished they can deposit one or more eggs into the acorn or other hard nut using a long ovipositor and the larva will remain feeding inside until it is ready to pupate. If you’ve ever noticed acorns, hazelnuts, chestnuts or pecan nuts with a small perfect looking hole then you can be sure that it once or might even still have a larva inside. The cool thing is that these kinds of weevils are particular about which host plant they like. For example, one species of weevil won’t target acorns AND chestnuts. They each have their specialty or at least that’s what the literature says. In North America, there are about 30 species of curculio weevils but there is one species in particular which is known as the acorn weevil in both North America and Europe. This w