Hazel-leaf Roller Beetle

Apoderus coryli

Date First recorded in the Garden: 12/06/2022

Family Attelabidae: Leaf-rolling Weevils

Most representatives of this family roll leaves into which the female deposits eggs. This family is mostly found in the tropics, with relatively few species recorded over most of Europe and really only two in the UK.

Hazel-leaf Roller Beetle – Apoderus coryli

To date we have not recorded an adult of this species in the Garden, which is a shame as these small beetles are an amazing red colour. Rather we have found examples of the hard work the female of the species puts into providing a safe environment for her eggs to develop and larva to pupate.

Around June time, after mating has occurred, the female alights on a hazel leaf and begins cutting it up in a fashion that then allows the leaf to be rolled into a cigar shape, as shown above.

Into this structure she will deposit an egg/s. She can create several such ‘cigars’ a day. Therefore if you only find a handful at any one time it is possibly the handiwork of a single female.

The larva will feed on the leaf inside the cigar and later pupate there as well. When ready the new adult will emerge and begin the process a second time each year. Only the second time around the larva will over winter in the cigar, which eventually falls off the tree into the developing leaf litter. It will pupate in the spring.

In the Garden

We really want to witness the female rolling her leaf and do check the hazel often.

Some online sources state other tree species can (rarely) be used, including Birch, Hornbeam and Beech. Therefore to attract this species you will likely need a hazel or perhaps one of these other species in or adjacent to/overhanging your garden. Otherwise you will have to leave it to chance that one will land near you or better still go out and look for these tell-tale cigars.

Note this species is not a weevil, which belong to a totally different family of Coleoptera (beetles), but has been named as such due to its elongated head which resembles that of a weevil.