Yucca Weevil – Scyphophrus yuccae

Yucca Weevil (Scyphophrus yuccae) Latin Name: Scyphophrus yuccae Common Name: Yucca Weevil Appearance: Eggs The egg is a regular oval with just a tiny change in curvature at both ends; 1.6-1.75 mm long and 0.7 mm wide; creamy-white with a thin, smooth chorion) Larvae The larva is tiny and robust, with abdominal segments 4 and 5 significantly thickened; body length up to 18 mm, maximum breadth 9 mm. Endocarina is lacking; head width 4.0-4.5 mm; mandibles dark brown or black; legs absent. Pupae Dugès gave a short description of the pupa (1886). Harris also described and drew it in the ventral aspect (1936). It measures between 15 and 19 mm in length. It starts pale yellow, then darkens when the growing weevil’s black pigment shows through the skin. Adults Pronotum is rectangular, subquadrate (when elytral interstices are convex), coarsely punctate, and has an opaque or dazzling surface. Funicle with segment 2 subequal in length to segment 3, terminal segment twice as broad as a long, corneous club. Femora clavate, with emarginate inner subapical border and strongly bidentate outer apices. Host plants:

1. acupunctatus is most common on century plants of the genera Agave and Furcraea, although it has also been recorded on Yucca.

Damage caused by Yucca Weevil: Adults feed on host sap, which poses little damage to plant health. Discolored, pierced areas or tiny holes on the leaves are caused by adult eating. Larvae dig into the base of hosts, causing plants to deteriorate and allowing plant diseases to enter. Infested plants frequently collapse and die due to larval feeding combined with decay microbes that inhabit injured tissue. Life history and Habits: Weevils have four life stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. After mating, older females gnaw an egg-laying tunnel in the base of hosts. After hatching from an egg, larvae grow through increasingly bigger instars as they eat and tunnel in plants. Mature larvae often depart hosts to pupate in the dirt, while pupae can also be found near the base of plants. When conditions are warm, one generation egg to adult can be accomplished in less than 2 months. Each year, there may be four or five generations.