How to Identify a Boll Weevil

By eHow Home & Garden Editor

Instructions

Step 1:
Remember the huge snout on a boll weevil. This most distinguishing identifying characteristic makes you think of an anteater. A boll weevil's snout takes up to half of the body size and is used for feeding. Boll weevils belong to a group called snout beetles.
Step 2:
Watch for an insect that is tiny--only 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch long.
Step 3:
Depend on something besides color to identify a boll weevil. Adults come in brown, reddish-brown, black, gray and tan.
Step 4:
Look for a humpback shaped hard shell to identify a boll weevil.
Step 5:
Study the front legs. A boll weevil has two spurs on the first joint of each leg.
Step 6:
Keep an eye out near old cotton fields in winter. This is where boll weevils like to hibernate, although some remain in cotton bolls during the winter season. When the cotton buds form in the spring, female boll weevils get busy and lay around 200 eggs inside the buds. Within three weeks, boll weevils go from eggs to larvae to pupa to adulthood. All the while, they feast on cotton.

Tips & Warnings

The only way to destroy boll weevils is through insecticides. Contact local agricultural experts for advice.
Work fast because boll weevils work faster. They can travel anywhere from 40 to 160 miles a year.

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