AES Bulletin Dec.2015 Vol.74.- Further observations on the feeding of the Figwort weevil;;Cionus scrophulariae.
My nine page article(following my 2014 article),involving microscope drawings,disproving Huber(1842)statement that this weevil 'burrows under the duvet'(i.e.leaf hairs)of mulleins,as he stated in a citation in Charles Darwin's Natural Selection,Stauffer(ed)1975.A professional entomologist suggested that Huber may have meant the very hairy Hoary mullein,which grows in Norfolk,so I had to grow it from seed & set the Figwort weevil feeding on it in indoor vivariums(made by sewing two Garden centre Belle Cloche's together),& out on my patio last Spring.Because the Council cut down the Kew Bridge Figworts in July 2014,when the weevil was in it's cocoons,I had to obtain Cionus scrophulariae from the banks of a local lake.The entomologist also suggested that Huber may have meant the Cionus weevil species C.hortulanus,but I don't have access to that species.Over a 100 of C.scroph.new generation that I bred during this experiment,I transfered to the newly growing Figwort plants @ Kew bridge to try to restart a new colony of them there.:eek!:
My nine page article(following my 2014 article),involving microscope drawings,disproving Huber(1842)statement that this weevil 'burrows under the duvet'(i.e.leaf hairs)of mulleins,as he stated in a citation in Charles Darwin's Natural Selection,Stauffer(ed)1975.A professional entomologist suggested that Huber may have meant the very hairy Hoary mullein,which grows in Norfolk,so I had to grow it from seed & set the Figwort weevil feeding on it in indoor vivariums(made by sewing two Garden centre Belle Cloche's together),& out on my patio last Spring.Because the Council cut down the Kew Bridge Figworts in July 2014,when the weevil was in it's cocoons,I had to obtain Cionus scrophulariae from the banks of a local lake.The entomologist also suggested that Huber may have meant the Cionus weevil species C.hortulanus,but I don't have access to that species.Over a 100 of C.scroph.new generation that I bred during this experiment,I transfered to the newly growing Figwort plants @ Kew bridge to try to restart a new colony of them there.:eek!: