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Basejumping Weevil - _TNY_4533

From what I've gathered, the strawberry root weevil (Otiorhynchus ovatus) is a bit known to like to hang out on people's houses so this one was following the norm.

 

It did however not appreciate me sticking my Canon MP-E65mm lens in its face and instead chose to jump off the wall and land somewhere in a large blue fescue grass tuft growing underneath - effectively disappearing.

 

Otiorhynchus weevils (the name being a combination of the Greek words for a diminutive ear and for snout) have short snouts for being a weevils and a fused elytra and are thus flightless, a fact that people growing strawberries try and take advantage of to prevent these from feeding on the strawberry plants by creating small moats around the plantations.

 

With it being flightless, perhaps the jumping-off idea is a viable strategy to avoid predators as well as photographers.

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Uploaded on November 17, 2020
Taken on May 7, 2020