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A mysterious, 3mm sphere stuck to my front door turned out to be a mango seed weevil, Sternochetus mangiferae. I’m afraid I had to bother him to figure out what he was — his distinctive, weevil-ular “snout” is hidden under his body, making him difficult to identify. Apparently that’s standard for his subfamily, Cryptorhynchinae, the “hidden snout weevils”. They have a special little pocket on their bellies, called a rostral furrow, to store their snouts in. Who knew?

I generally prefer not to bother/move my subjects, but I did gently poke this little fellow with a leaf to try to get him to lift his head so I could confirm he was a weevil. He has little weevil knees, visible in the photo, and little weevil feet — but where is that distinctive snout?!? He was unidentifiable without seeing his face so I’m afraid I did gently nudge him out of his hiding place.

As you may expect, given that he was using some excellent camouflage (he looked very much like bird poop) to remain undetected on my front door, mango seed weevils play dead when disturbed. This did give me a chance to get better photos of his front and back sides, which allowed me to identify him. I promise that he is not dead! After taking my photos, I put him under a potted plant for protection — when I came back to check on him 15 minutes later, he had taken the opportunity to wander off.

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