Most people think weevils are kind of cute, with their big eyes, elongated snouts, and heads that swivel like tiny puppets. But you won’t be laughing once you find a bunch of rice weevils feasting in your pantry. They’re just like us: They love carbs. Despite their name, rice weevils are not picky eaters. They’ll happily munch on pasta, corn and other grains too. They actually infiltrate your pantry, tucked inside the grains. But don’t worry. If you accidentally eat one, you’ll just get extra protein. See how they invade your kitchen and what you can do to keep them out of your precious grains in this week’s video and newsletter.
A rice weevil is a stowaway. It sneaks into your pantry as an egg that its mom laid inside a single grain of rice. Once it hatches, it turns your rice into its new home.
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A couple enjoys the sunset by the Pacific Ocean in San Francisco, California. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
👶 Once a rice weevil larva hatches from an egg inside a grain of rice, it devours the rice from within. When it finishes growing into an adult a month later, it crawls out of a hollowed-out husk.
🪒👃🏼Adult rice weevils are tiny, smaller than a grain of rice. They have sharp mandibles at the tips of their long snouts to pierce through the strong outer shell of grains.
🆒Weevils won’t reproduce if it’s cold, and they need some moisture to live. So store your precious grains in airtight containers in a cool, dry place.
🎙️To control rice weevils, scientists are exploring alternatives to fumigating grains. They’re using sensitive microphones to listen for weevil larvae chewing inside grains. This would allow growers to use pesticides more strategically and less often.
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Name That Critter!
Their eggs can spend years – even decades – frozen in time, waiting to hatch. When California rice growers flood their fields, they create the perfect conditions for hordes of these ravenous creatures to awaken. What are they? Find the answer at the bottom of this newsletter.
DEEP EVENT
Tiny Ocean Wonders with Deep Look at the California Academy of Sciences
Join Deep Look’s lead producer and cinematographer Josh Cassidy and producer Rosa Tuirán on Thursday, March 20, at 8:30 p.m., for a special screening featuring tiny ocean wonders as a part of NightLife In the Deepat the California Academy of Sciences. From barnacles and corals to baby jellyfish and nudibranchs, you’ll see incredible short films that reveal these critters’ rare and strange behaviors up close. Plus, chat with some of the scientists who helped us make the films. There are also other amazing ocean-related things to see and do!
Doors open at 6 p.m. This is a 21+ only event. Tickets required.
Tadpole shrimp! Tadpole shrimp are neither tadpoles nor shrimp. They’re crustaceans that find their way into the rice fields of California’s Central Valley every spring and go to town munching on young rice seedlings.
