weevil

Any of a superfamily (Curculionoidea) of beetles, usually less than 6 mm/0.25 in in length, and with a head prolonged into a downward beak, which is used for boring into plant stems and trees for feeding.

The larvae are usually white and the adults green, black, or brown. There are approximately 570 species of weevil in Britain and 40,000 known species worldwide. The grain weevil Sitophilus granarius is a serious pest of stored grain and the boll weevil Anthonomus grandis damages cotton crops.