{"id":10887,"date":"2026-09-06T09:00:49","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T09:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/?p=10887"},"modified":"2026-09-09T18:45:41","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T18:45:41","slug":"2026-09-meeting-the-red-apion-weevil-en","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/posts\/2026-09-meeting-the-red-apion-weevil-en\/","title":{"rendered":"Molten lava drops and sorrel feasts: Meeting the red apion weevil"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The red apion weevil (<em>Apion frumentarium<\/em>) is a tiny, bright crimson beetle that looks like a walking drop of molten lava or a tiny red jewel. It grows to just 2.5 to 4.5 millimeters long, making it one of the larger species in its specific group. Features a distinct pear-shaped body, a long snout (rostrum), and a vibrant red or orange exoskeleton with black eyes and feet. Prefers wild docks and sorrels (Rumex species) like the curled dock or sheep&#8217;s sorrel. Quickly drops straight to the ground and plays dead when disturbed. Found widely across European grasslands, agricultural areas, and western Asia. I spotted this tiny beetle when it was walking on my photographic equipment at the end of my morning walk. I gently moved him to a nearby concrete post and tried to take some pictures. And such a tiny moving object in full sun was a huge challenge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The red apion weevil (Apion frumentarium) is a tiny, bright crimson beetle that looks like a walking drop of molten [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10888,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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