Palm Beetle

We thought this beetle was pretty cool when it was wandering around our balcony. A little research reveals that it is not as cute as it looks. It is a Palm Beetle or red palm weevil (aka Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Olivier) to give it its proper name. It is apparently resistant to insecticide and is responsible for killing off the islands palm trees. Any tree that is found to be infected has to be cut down and burned. It eats the interior of the trunk, the leaves and the shoots of palm trees. It breeds three or four times a year and can produce between 300 and 400 eggs each cycle. When fully grown, the weevil can reach lengths of 5cm, and whilst devastating for the palm tree, they are not harmful to humans.