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Pea weevil, Pea and bean weevil

Description, Biology, Life Cycle, Damage, Common Names, Images

[R]Biology
-Host plants: the wild or cultivated leguminous plants: lucerne, pea, broad bean, clover, spring vetch, bean, birdsfoot trefoil.
- Adult: active during warm conditions, it remains hidden in cold or cloudy weather. It feeds on the leaf parenchyma making semi-circular notches around the lamina (*) . The female lays up to 1,400 eggs, at very regular intervals, on the leaves and stems of the host plants.
- Egg: embryonic development lasts 2 to 3 weeks.
- Larva: the neonate larva (0.5 mm) buries itself in the ground and lives at the expense of bacterical nodosities (*) . Subsquently, having reached a length of 2 mm, it attacks the rootlets and the roots (*) . Larval development lasts 30 to 40 days.
- Pupa: pupation takes place in a small earthen cell in the ground and lasts 10 to 20 days.

[R]Life Cycle
- 1 generation per year.
- The hibernating adults emerges in April, assemble on the young leguminous plants and live until July. Egg-laying occurs at intervals from May to July. The new generation adults appear from July to end of August with a maximum towards the 15 th July.

[R]Damage
On protein pea and lucerne, the notches made by the adults on the leaves can limit the density of young seedlings (*) . Morever, the attacks of the larvae which feed on the nodules and the roots delay growth of vegetation.

[R] Images

1. Sitona lineatus (L.) (BASF)
   Damage caused by adults on broad bean seedling
2. Sitona lineatus (L.) (BASF)
   Larva on roots
3. Sitona lineatus (L.) (Carré S. / INRA)
   Larvae consuming bacterial root nodules. .
   
4. Sitona lineatus (L.) (Coutin R. / OPIE)
   Damage on peas Shoots and leaves notched by the adult.
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5. Sitona lineatus (L.) (Coutin R. / OPIE)
   Adult on pea leaflet