Habitat: China
Status: Not Listed
This impressive, bright red creature is the Bamboo Weevil (Cyrtotrachelus longimanus). As you can see, it’s a big guy, taking up a good portion of this man’s hand in the first photo. I couldn’t find exact dimensions, but it’s obvious we’re not talking about an aphid here. The vivid coloration on this weevil combined with its size makes it a sight to behold in flight.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t exactly have the most fans in China. These guys are considered major pests of bamboo and will readily destroy huge portions of the stuff. The adults feed on new bamboo shoots and females will lay a single egg where they have bitten into the shoot. The egg then develops into a white, legless larva with a brown head and very well-developed jaws. That’s the problem. The feeding babies will destroy the shoots after about four weeks at which time they then drop off into the soil to pupate and transform into their final adult forms.
Sucks these guys are so unpopular since they’re super beautiful creatures! Lame.
