Species Insects & ArthropodsBoll Weevil

Boll Weevil

Anthonomus grandis

UncommonInsect & Arthropod
Illustration of Boll Weevil (Anthonomus grandis)

The Boll Weevil is a small, gray-brown weevil with a long, curved snout that invaded the United States from Mexico in the 1890s and devastated the cotton industry, fundamentally changing Southern agricultural and social history. Both adults and larvae damage cotton bolls, with larvae feeding inside before the boll drops. Eradication programs have now eliminated it from most US cotton-growing areas.

Habitat
Cotton fields; historically widespread in the South
Diet
Adults and larvae: cotton buds and bolls
How common
Uncommon

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