LEAF-ROLLING WEEVIL

any of the beetles of the subfamily Attelabidae of the family Curculionidae (order Coleoptera), so named because of the way in which females protect their newly laid eggs by rolling them up inside a growing leaf. After hatching, the larvae eat the leaf from within. Adults are free-living but associated with certain tree species. Attelabus nitens, for example, is associated with oak, and Rhynchites populi with poplar. Two species of leaf-rolling weevils lay their eggs in hazel trees: R. betuleti, which rolls the whole leaf, and Apoderus coryli, which rolls only one side of the leaf.