Weevils Mesa, AZ

When one thinks of weevils a group of small beetles comes to mind that are distinguished by their greatly elongated heads which usually curve downwards, forming what appears to be a snout or a beak-like structure. At the tip of the snout are two powerful jaws, or mandibles. These enable the insect to bore directly into sound, unbroken kernels of grain. They then deposit their egg in the hole they have bored and seal up the hole so that it is hard to tell that the grain has been tampered with in any way. The two most common stored food weevils are the Rice Weevil and the Granary Weevil.

Often, an insect is called a weevil but is not a true weevil. It does not have a snout and it lays its eggs on the outside of the bean rather than inside. The name of this imposter is the bean weevil. Bean weevils are active fliers, and easily find their way into structures where the appropriate foods are stored for their offspring to feed on, and these are dried legumes of various kinds – black-eyed peas, horse beans, and other dried beans and peas. Knowing this strong tendency for the bean weevils to infest a certain kind of stored food is helpful once you properly identify the beetle, for it narrows your search for the source. 

Eggs may be laid in the field on the outside of bean pods before harvest or later among dried beans in storage. Most eggs are deposited within eight days after the adult emerges from the bean or pea that it developed in. The eggs are laid on the outside of the bean and the young larvae bore into the bean and develop within the bean, often leaving little evidence that a bean has this damaging insect inside. When the larva is full grown it prepares a thin round "window" just before pupating, from which the adult will emerge to the outside world. Several individuals may develop in the same bean so that when all of them have emerged there is very little left of the bean itself. Once the first few females emerge in a stored bag of beans they mate and wander around on the rest of the beans in that container, depositing eggs on nearly every bean there. 

Since each female is capable of producing dozens of eggs their work will be very thorough. For those who are not terribly squeamish about this it would cause no harm to eat those beetles or their larvae still hidden within the beans, but most people prefer to just throw away the whole batch, and of course a commercial business could not possibly sell any product they know is infested with insects.

The true weevils have an elongated snout with the tiny mandibles right at the tip. The seed weevils do not have a long “snout”, but their head and prothorax are elongated so that they stick out in front of the rest of the body, almost resembling a short snout. One very good identification character you can look for is the top of the abdomen. True weevils have fully developed wing covers (elytra) that extend all the way to the end of the abdomen.

There are many different kinds of seed weevils, and their role in Nature is clear. They are responsible for feeding on the dried seeds of plants as part of the overall recycling program in nature. Some species may specialize in acorns, and when homes are surrounded by oak trees the beetles may be present in abundance. Decorative items using seeds may be present in a home and these would need to be inspected when weevils are present. Back in the 1970’s one decorating craze was the use of glass-topped “shadow” boxes that had many small compartments in them. These were filled with a variety of colorful items and hung on the wall, and often the colorful items were colored popcorn, different colors of dried beans, dried macaroni and other pastas, and all of these things eventually would be found by different insects that fed on them and then scattered around the home. 

The life cycle of the seed weevil from egg to adult is completed in about one month and adults live only two to three weeks. Their role in nature really is to mate, lay eggs, and die once this production of the next generation is completed. 

At Lady Bug use a variety of environmentally responsible products to control pest activity. The ECO line of products we use are all EPA approved and are made from clove oil, guava fruit, rosemary and other organic products and naturally occurring materials. They are very effective against pests when injected into the cracks and crevices at the source of where pests live and breed, yet it is inaccessible to people and pets.

The Weevils Mesa, AZ

Contact Lady Bug Pest Control Specialists for a Free Home Inspection for Termites, Eco-Friendly Pest Control, Home Seal Service, Bed Bug Eco-Heat, and Rodent Control.  We perform Complete Home Inspections at no charge.  Please feel free to contact Lady Bug Pest Control Specialists to answer any questions or for a FREE Inspection. 480-833-1111