Across much of the Palaearctic, from Europe through temperate Asia, with distribution varying by subspecies and habitat.
Fine-art photographic collection
Apion frumentarium
A red weevil that drills a nursery into dock stems and seals each egg behind it.
About this species
Apion frumentarium(Linnaeus, 1758)
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Apion frumentarium is a tiny Palaearctic seed-weevil relative associated with docks and sorrels. Females use the elongated snout as a precision drill, placing eggs inside plant tissue where the larva can feed protected from the outside world.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Coleoptera · Brentidae · Apion
Accepted species or infraspecific taxon in the current GBIF/Catalogue of Life treatment; unsupported details have been omitted rather than inferred. · checked 2026-07-15
Palaearctic regionBroad documented range and selected occurrence localities — not a complete occurrence map.
Vegetation containing the larval host plant.
Seasonal and mainly active on host plants.
Larvae and adults are plant-feeding; exact host details require species-specific sources.
Solitary.
What makes this species remarkable?
The female drills into a dock stem or root crown with her rostrum, turns, inserts an egg and seals the opening with a dark secretion.
The larva develops concealed inside living plant tissue, transforming the host into both food supply and armour against many predators.
Adults can pass through a prolonged summer resting phase and overwinter, so the visible red beetle may outlive the brief period when it is actively reproducing.