IMPORTANT PECAN INSECTS AND THEIR CONTROL. 



15 



Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, 

 and Texas. The development 

 of this insect shows four stages : 

 (1) The egg, (2) the larva or grub, 

 (3) the pupa, and (4) the adult 

 or weevil. The parent of the 

 grubs which destroy the interior 

 of the nuts is a small, long- 

 snouted beetle (fig. 13) closely 

 related to the chestnut weevil. 

 The beak, or snout, of the fe- 

 male is much longer than that 

 of the male. The general color 

 of the beetles is dull, dark brown, 

 with a slight tinge of gray. 



The eggs are small, somewhat elongated, irregularly shaped, and 

 translucent white. With her long, slender, but strong beak the 

 female beetle makes a small hole or gallery through the shuck and 

 shell (fig. 14) and with her ovipositor inserts the eggs into the kernel 

 of the nut. 



The larva is a robust, yellowish white grub, with a red or light 

 reddish brown head. It is by this stage of the insect that the kernels 

 of the nuts are destroyed (fig. 15). When the larvae reach maturity 

 they leave the nuts by gnawing circular holes in the shells, and im- 

 mediately enter the soil to a depth of about 6 to 8 inches and there 

 pass the winter. 



FtG. 14. The pecan weevil: Egg puncture in the pecan 

 shuck. Enlarged. 



FIG. 1.x The pecan weevil: Grubs, or larvae, within pecan nuts. 



The pupa is of the usual form and is somewhat lighter in color than 

 the larva. It is formed within the soil, in a small earthen cell made by 

 the larva at the tune of entering the ground. 



SEASONAL HISTORY. 



Iii the South the beetles emerge from the ground and appear on 

 the pecan trees during August and September. Shortly after erner- 



