Rhynchites Bacchus

a beetle of the family Curcu-lionidae (weevils), a pest of seed and amygdalaceous fruit crops. The golden-scarlet body is 4.5-6.5 mm long, has a violet-green metallic sheen, and is covered with brown hairs; there are longitudinal punctate grooves on the elytra.

This beetle is found in central and southern Europe and Asia.In the USSR it does great damage to plums, apricots, and applesin Krasnodar Krai, Rostov Oblast, Moldavia, and the forest-steppe and steppe of the Ukraine. It develops over a period ofone to two years. The beetles damage buds, leaves, flower budsand flowers, and fruits and foster the spread of fungi of the genus Monilia —the causative agents of fruit rot. The larvae feed ontissue affected with brown fruit rot and burrow in the flesh offruits, which gradually shrivel up and mummify. Control measures consist in treating crops with insecticides, shaking downthe beetles onto screens (on orchards near farms), gathering andremoving windfall, and controlling fruit rot.