tempus fugit

By ceridwen

Fear no weevil

I noticed the strange appearance of some figwort leaves - sort of mottled and lacy (bottom left) and searched for a perpetrator. Not easy to spot but once I did I saw many of these little creatures each with a tiny trunk - weevils.
Yes,  figwort has it own particular weevil (Cionus scrophulariae.) which uses its snout (rostrum) to pierce the soft tissue between the veins of the leaf and suck up the sap. It lays its eggs on the plant and the larvae, which look like minute blobs of jelly, cling to the underside of the leaves..

Figwort (regarded as a weed) has become even more interesting to me than it already was. 

See if you can spot the weevil in the main image. Look right, look left, look right again...

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