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Occurs throughout Aotearoa New Zealand
Giraffe weevil

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.