White Pebble Weevil
Face
Ellura
Horned Weevil
 
                      
White Pebble Weevil (Elaeagna squamibunda)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Beetles (Coleoptera)
Family: True Weevil (Curculionoidea: Curculionidae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: White Pebble Weevil (Elaeagna squamibunda)
This Photo:     Defensive Posture

Thank you Boris Büche for identifying this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA), the Riverland and elsewhere
1st Live Photo on-line:
Between ~5 to ~7mm long.
When feeling threatened they tuck their rostrum well into their chest & curl up.
Regardless their legs are large for their body size.
Their body reminds us of the surface of a golf ball.
We believe the black mark on this one (on it's side in the profile shot) is where the scales have been "worn"/scraped off, showing the actual under colour (dermis?) is black. As such, black marks like this aren't diagnostic, but damage.
We were fairly confident of our genus id, but thought the colours were a bit different to this species.
Boris said "In Lea (1913), considerable variability in scale colour described for the species."

Similar Species: Variable Hidden-snout Weevil (Decilaus cf variegatus)

Copyright © 2020-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 17-Feb-2020
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.