Adults are roughly 15–24 mm long.
Fine-art photographic collection
Lithinus niveus
A Madagascan weevil that appears dusted with snow because its armour is buried beneath a dense optical disguise.
About this species
Lithinus niveus(Coquerel, 1859)
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Lithinus niveus is a broad-nosed weevil endemic to Madagascar. Cream-white scales and tufts cover most of the body, while small islands of dark cuticle create the false pits and shadows of lichen-covered bark.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Coleoptera · Curculionidae · Lithinus
Accepted taxon. · checked 2026-07-15
MadagascarBroad range and selected reference localities — not a complete occurrence map.
Madagascar
Humid forest on pale, lichen-covered trunks and branches.
Slow-moving and cryptic on bark and foliage.
Plant tissue as an adult; roots or woody tissues as a larva.
Solitary.
What makes this species remarkable?
The pale surface is not the colour of the shell itself: thousands of overlapping scales bury the dark exoskeleton, making the beetle look coated in frost or powdered stone.
Dark gaps in that pale covering manufacture false depth. They read as cracks, pits and bark shadows, destroying the bilateral symmetry that normally gives an insect away.
Lithinus niveus is part of a Madagascan radiation of lichen-mimicking weevils; this exact snow-white disguise evolved on one island and is tied to its forest surfaces.