| Latin Name | Observation Date | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Lepropus lateralis | August 30, 2026 | Natore, Bangladesh |
It has become my daily habit to closely observe the lives of various small creatures hidden in nature. This morning, while walking, I suddenly saw a strange and beautiful insect on a tree branch. The insect's body color is bright green and metallic. When I got closer, I saw that it is basically a type of weevil. In English, they are called 'broad-nosed weevil'. Without delay, I captured the scene on my mobile camera.
Scientific name:
This interesting insect has a specific scientific name. In the scientific world, it is known as Lepropus lateralis. In 1792, scientist Fabricius first gave it the name Curculio lateralis. Later, in 1807, Olivier gave another synonym, Lepropus rutilans, which is quite popular in modern research as one of its valid names.
Family Genus:
According to the scientific classification of biology, it is a member of the Entiminae subfamily of the Curculionidae family. In the scientific world, their genus or genus name is Lepropus.
Physical structure and behavior:
As you can see in the pictures I took, their skin color is a beautiful metallic green and there are small dot-like grooves all over their body. The front part of their face is quite wide. They are mainly nocturnal or more active at night and they are quite attracted to artificial light.
Habitat and habitat:
In terms of geographical distribution, they are mainly residents of our Oriental or Eastern region. They are widely seen in Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand and China. They usually prefer to live in agricultural lands, gardens and on the leaves of trees.
Food and reproduction:
In terms of feeding habits, they are polyphagous, meaning they survive by eating many types of plants. The adult insects usually eat the leaves of the plants, which results in the edges of the leaves becoming grooved or rough. After the female insect lays her eggs, the larvae or grubs that hatch from the eggs remain underground and gradually grow by eating the roots of grasses and various crops.
Benefits:
They do not have much direct benefit to the environment. They are mainly a common part of the food chain in agricultural ecosystems and can be used as food for other predators or birds.
Disadvantages:
Although they are beautiful to look at, they are one of the most harmful insects (agricultural pests) of our farmland. They are staple crops such as rice, corn and sugarcane; pulse crops such as soybeans and mung beans; They cause extensive damage to cash crops such as cotton, tea and tobacco, as well as mango, guava and kulam trees. In addition to the leaves, their larvae eat the roots of the crop underground, severely hindering the growth of the plant.
I learned about them from various sites including iNaturalist, Wikipedia and Google.
(All posts are written in Bengali and translated into English using Google Translate.)
| Camera Used | Samsung SM-G973F |
|---|---|
| F-Stop | F2.4 |
| ISO speed | ISO |
| Focal length | 26mm |
| Flash | No |
| Editing app | Lightroom |
| Photography | (Lepropus lateralis) |
| Photographer |  @mshbd |
| Location | Natore, Bangladesh |
| Link to original community |
|---|
| https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/396298286 |
| Latitude | Longitude | Map Link |
|---|---|---|
| 24.3432 | 89.1127 | https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=12/24.3366/89.1117 |
