Giraffe-necked Weevil

• GeneralThe male's neck is three times the length of the female's, and he fights with it.
• anatomíaThe males have a neck two to three times as long as the female's, and it is she who rolls leaves into a protective nest for a single egg.
• The male's disproportionate neck, two or three times longer than the female's, is a weapon: males shove one another with it for access to females.
• It is the shorter-necked female that rolls a leaf into a perfect cylinder, lays a single egg inside and cuts the leaf so that it falls to the ground.
• It was described in 1860, and its dependence on a handful of plants in a badly threatened forest makes it vulnerable.
• The male's neck is disproportionately long, up to two or three times longer than the female's, and he uses it in ritual fights over access to females: they push neck against neck.
• The female uses hers, which is shorter, as a tool: she rolls a leaf of the shrub into a perfect cylinder, lays a single egg inside and cuts the roll free; it falls to the ground and serves as both nest and first meal for the larva.
• That folding work is precise and stereotyped, and it is the reason these beetles are called leaf-rollers.
• It is endemic to Madagascar and depends on a single genus of host plant, which makes it vulnerable to the island's deforestation.
• It was described in 1860, and its appearance has made it one of Madagascar's most photographed insects.

Skeleton type

Invertebrate - chitin exoskeleton (insect)

Habitat and environment

Rainforest; on shrubs of the genus Dichaetanthera

Sexual maturity

The male's neck is two to three times longer than the female's and he uses it to fight other males for mating rights, striking them with it; the female waits nearby and mates with the winner

Litter / clutch size

A single egg per nest: the female rolls up a leaf of Dichaetanthera cordifolia or D. arborea, binds it tightly with silk she produces herself until it forms a cylinder, lays the egg inside and then cuts the roll so that it falls to the forest floor

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trachelophorus_giraffa; Ficha de especie de Trachelophorus giraffa; JungleDragon; Wildlife Madagascar; Wildlife Madagascar, ficha Madagascar giraffe-necked weevil

Best time: Day-active and tree-dwelling in the rainforest of eastern Madagascar; it barely strays from its food trees of the genus Dichaetanthera

The pins mark the parks where its presence is documented.