Cowpea weevil
The cowpea weevil is a tiny reddish brown beetle with two black spots in the middle of its back. It lives where people store dried beans. Its babies grow up hidden inside a bean.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
The mother glues her eggs one by one onto beans.
The larva eats the bean from inside but leaves a thin window, which it later pushes open to come out.
Up to 8 or 10 larvae can grow inside one single bean.
A grown-up beetle lives only about 10 to 14 days.
Scientists and schools use it a lot for experiments because it grows up so quickly.
Most asked questions about Cowpea weevil
?Why are there little holes in my dried beans?
They may be exit holes of beetles like the cowpea weevil, which grow up inside beans.
?Is the cowpea weevil harmful to people?
No, it does not bite. It just spoils stored beans.
?What does the cowpea weevil eat?
Its larvae eat beans from the inside. The adults do not need food.
Myth buster
Myth: The cowpea weevil is a weevil.
Truth: No. It is not a true weevil and has no long snout. It belongs to the leaf beetle family.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Callosobruchus maculatus
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Chrysomelidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Chrysomelidae
- Lives on
- Africa, Europe, Asia, North America, South America, Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Cowpea seed beetle
Where the facts come from
- Callosobruchus maculatus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by limbatus. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.
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