Occurs throughout Aotearoa New Zealand
Giraffe weevil
Māori name: pēpeke nguturoa, tuwhaipapa, tuwhaitara
English name: giraffe weevil
Scientific name: Lasiorhynchus barbicornis (Fabricius)
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Brentidae
- occurs throughout Aotearoa / New Zealand;
- at up to 80 mm is the longest of our beetles;
- length is mostly taken up by the snout, underneath which is a long comb of stiff bristles;
- antennae are very near the tip of the snout in males, but in the smaller female they are near the middle;
- eggs are commonly laid in holes chewed by the female in the wood of karaka, houhere, and pigeonwood;
- larvae that hatch from these eggs tunnel in the wood, feeding and growing until they are ready to change into adults;
- male is considered to resemble closely a Māori canoe, or waka, and it fittingly has a place in Māori mythology as the god of a new-made waka.