Bug FAQLarge Pine Weevil
Hylobius abietis · Order: Coleoptera · Family: Curculionidae
Also called: Pine Weevil
Source: Wikipedia
Adults are about 10 to 13 mm long and have black or deep-red legs with a tooth on the femur and tibia. They chew the bark and cambium of seedlings, causing ring-barking that can kill the tree.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
The legs are black or deep red and each femur and tibia ends with a distinctive tooth.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Adults measure roughly 10 to 13 mm in length, not counting the snout. Full-grown larvae are 14 to 16 mm long, curved, whitish with a brown head.
Source: Wikipedia
Is it a pest in the house?
Feeding at the seedling collar rings the bark, usually killing the young tree. Clear-cut areas that are not burned or cleared of stumps encourage the spread of the pest.
Source: Wikipedia
How to get rid of it
Seedling dressing with insecticides is the main method used to protect plants from weevil feeding. Natural enemies such as predatory beetles, fungi, entomopathogenic nematodes and the parasitic wasp Bracon hylobii also attack weevils.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
They are especially common on trees that have been fertilized with phosphorus, which makes the phloem more attractive. Adults can be seen year-round but usually hibernate during the cold winter months.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
The main damage comes from adults chewing the bark and cambium.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
With good weather the whole development takes four to five months, so adults emerge in August or September but do not mate until after the next winter.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Adults feed throughout the growing season, with peak attacks in spring (April to May) and autumn (August to September).
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
This weevil is the most important pest of commercially important coniferous trees in European plantations. Its problems are linked to clear-felling and replanting practices.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
Adults are 10 to 13 mm long, matching the size description for this species. Larvae are 14 to 16 mm, curved, whitish with a brown head, which helps distinguish them.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 1 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Pennsylvania.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
How does the large pine weevil damage trees?
Adults chew the bark and cambium around the seedling collar, ring-barking and often killing the plant.
Source: Wikipedia
When are large pine weevils most active?
They are most aggressive in spring (April to May) and again in late summer to early autumn (August to September).
Source: Wikipedia
What control methods work against large pine weevils?
Applying insecticide seedling dressings and encouraging natural enemies like predatory beetles and parasitic wasps can reduce damage.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Curculionidae)
Green Immigrant Leaf WeevilPolydrusus formosusDamages trees, gardens or crops
Black Vine WeevilOtiorhynchus sulcatusDamages trees, gardens or crops
Nettle weevilPhyllobius pomaceusDamages trees, gardens or crops
Asian Oak WeevilCyrtepistomus castaneusDamages trees, gardens or crops
Strawberry Root WeevilOtiorhynchus ovatusDamages trees, gardens or crops
Common Leaf WeevilPhyllobius pyriDamages trees, gardens or cropsSources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hylobius_abietis
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.