Strawberry Root Weevil (Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado State University, Bugwood.org)
Common Name: Strawberry Root Weevil
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Curculionidae
Pest Status: Strawberry root weevils can damage strawberries and can also become nuisance pests in homes.
Appearance: Adults are about 1/5-inch long, shiny-black with thinly-scattered yellow hairs, red-brown antennae and legs, and deep, strial punctures on the wing covers.
Life Cycle: Adults emerge in early spring from puparia in the soil. After one month, they begin to lay eggs. Hatching occurs about 10 days after the eggs are laid. The young larvae feed on roots and crowns of plants in mid-summer, overwinter in the soil and cause their heaviest damage in the spring. The pupation period lasts most of the spring.
Where to Collect: Weevils appear on sides of and within houses in late summer and early fall. This may be the easiest place to collect them.
Purdue Extension Entomology, 901 West State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907 USA, (765) 494-4554