THE CAMBIUM CURCULIO, CONOTRACHELUS 
ANAGLYPTICUS SAY 1 
By Fred E. Brooks, Entomologist, Fruit Insect Investigations, Bureau of Ento¬ 
mology, with detailed description of larva and pupa by R. T. Cotton, Ento¬ 
mologist, Stored-Product Insect Investigations, Bureau of Entomology, United 
States Department of Agriculture 
INTRODUCTION 
Orchardists in the eastern part of the United States who practice jarring plum 
and peach trees to capture the beetles of the plum curculio, Conotrachelus nenu¬ 
phar Herbst, occasionally obtain with these beetles specimens of the nearly related 
species Conotrachelus anaglypticus Say. This beetle is slightly smaller and some¬ 
what more active than the plum curculio but in a general way resembles it rather 
closely, although there is little difficulty in distinguishing between the two. 
The larva is found in a variety of situations, but a frequent place of feeding and 
development is in the cambium around wounds in the bark of various kinds of 
orchard and forest trees. On account of this feeding habit the common name 
“cambium curculio” is here applied to the insect. 
In the year 1910 E. L. Jenne, working under the direction of Dr. A. L. Quaint- 
ance, in charge of Fruit Insect Investigations in the Bureau of Entomology, made 
careful observations on the egg-laying habits and larval development of this 
insect at Gainesville, Ga. Mr. Jenne observed the species as a possible enemy 
' of the fruit of the peach. In 1922 Oliver I. Snapp, also of the office of Fruit 
Insect Investigations, made observations on the insect as an enemy of peaches, 
at Fort Valley, Ga. Data obtained by both Jenne and Snapp are included in 
this paper, together with those collected by the writer in West Virginia over a 
period of several years. The studies in West Virginia have revealed the insect 
as an habitual feeder under the bark of fruit and other trees. 
Both Jenne and Snapp found the larvae of the cambium curculio feeding in 
peaches in company with the larvae of the plum curculio. This association in 
feeding of the two similar species makes it important that observers be able to 
distinguish between them while in the larval stage. Accordingly, R. T. Cotton, 
a specialist in curculionid larvae, who is employed under the direction of Dr. 
E. A. Back, Stored-Product Insect Investigations in the Bureau of Entomology, 
furnished upon request the drawings (Pis. 2, 3, and 4) and comparative descrip¬ 
tions that are used in this paper. 
HISTORY AND DISTRIBUTION 
This insect was named and described in 1831 by Thomas Say (7, p. 18). 2 
Since the publication of the original description the species has been taken under 
a variety of conditions and in many localities. LeConte afid Horn ( 6, p. 234) t 
writing in 1876, record it from Massachusetts, Georgia, Kansas, and Texas. 
Blatchley and Leng ( 1, p. 481) add to its range the States of New Jersey, Mich¬ 
igan, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Florida. The last named authors state that it is 
“abundant from New England to Michigan and Iowa, south to Florida and 
1 Received for publication April 22, 1924. 
2 Reference is made by number (italic) to “Literature cited," p. 386. 
Journal of Agricultural Research, 
Washington, D. C. 
( 377 ) 
Vol. XXVIII, No. 4 
May 31,1924 
Key No. K-131 
