Fruity weevil

Apple Fruit Weevil (Neocoenorrhinus aequatus)

While mooching around on this week's Bank Holiday Monday, I found this little insect resting on the tip of a Common Nettle leaf in a back corner of the garden. It's an Apple Fruit Weevil (Neocoenorrhinus aequatus), also widely known as Apple Fruit Rynchites. Despite its name, the weevil's usual host is Hawthorn, a scrubby tree that's common in hedgerows across Norfolk and much of the rest of the UK. That tree will reach its blooming peak within the next few weeks, and the weevil is ready! Its numbers peak in May and June, though it can also be found earlier in the spring. In addition to Hawthorn, it will also feast on Blackthorn (which blooms in April), apple, cherry, plum and pear trees, and sometimes proves to be a locally significant pest of organic orchards. It's quite small, measuring only 2.5 to 4.5 mm (about 1/5 of an inch), with a blackish-brown head and thorax and reddish-brown elytra (the hard cases covering the wings). The dark line marking the join between the elytra is distinctive, as are the many tiny pits and pale hairs covering them. The weevil is common throughout much of England (to about mid-Yorkshire and Durham), but rare in Wales, Scotland and the north of England. The female will lay up to 20 eggs in the blossoms and developing fruits of the Hawthorn (or other tree), and may chew through the fruitlet's stem to slow its development. The larvae develop in the fruits, emerging in the fall when the fruits fall to the ground. The larvae burrow into the ground to pupate, quickly (i.e. in a week or two) becoming adults, but remaining snug in their pupa case until the following spring. Hopefully, they'll leave at least a few of our apple blossoms unscathed, so that the Blackbirds will have something to eat come autumn.