Cranberry weevil

Anthonomus musculus

The adult weevil is a dark reddish-brown beetle about 3 mm (1/8 inch) long. The front part of the weevil's head is elongated into a slender, curved snout (proboscis) which is about one-third to one-half as long as the rest of the body. The larva is smooth, slender, and legless. It has a yellowish-white body and a brown head.
Weevils begin damaging blueberry plants in early spring after adults emerge from hibernation and start feeding and laying eggs. They puncture both leaf and flower buds with their mouthparts: heavily damaged flower buds fail to open and injured leaf buds produce an abnormal cluster of dwarfed foliage. Larvae feeding within the buds cause the infested blossoms to turn purple, remain unopened, wither, and fall from the plant. Later in the growing season, the feeding of adult weevils causes numerous small, irregular holes in the leaves, usually within a brownish dead area on both sides of the midrib. Frequently this injury occurs within leaves tied or rolled by other insects which have abandoned the structure.

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