✨cool bug facts's✨
Trachelophorus giraffa, or the giraffe weevil!
Aughdhgh the neck
The anatomy of these Achates-shaped insects!!!
The males necks are typically 2-3 times the length of a females, but can be much larger, as they are one of the most diverse species of weevils when it comes to height.
Their whole body and wings are black, but their elytra are are an ostentatious red.
The males are around 2.5 centimeters long, which is nearly the longest any attelabid species is.
The larger males snouts and legs' tissue aren't as metabolically active as the smaller males. The larger males also have more cuticle, meaning that despite their ridiculously large size, they use up less energy than the smaller males.
The larger males can be 30 times the size of the smaller males.
Smaller males typically die younger than larger males.
The females have very powerful legs compared to the males.
They are a species in the attelabid family, which is one of the few families of primitive weevils.
Diet.
The larvae eat the nests they were born on.
The adults eat the leaves from the Dichaetanthera arborea, unscientifically known as the giraffe beetle tree, because that's really all this tree has going for it.
Behavior.
The males use their necks to joust with other males, similar to how other beetle species use their horns and mandibles. But instead of trying to pick up and throw their opponents, they try to shove them off their tree.
When startled, they will backflip off their tree.
In order to actually be able to mate, the smaller males will sneak under the larger males while they're mating.
If a female prefers a specific male who's fighting over them, they will walk in between the fighting males, breaking up the fight. They will then shoo away the male they don't like, and mate with the preferred male.
Even if they haven't mated yet, the females will make a nest for their eggs using their neck, by way of pressing their neck against the leaf to make indentures. After making these indentures, they use their legs to fold the leaf in half and curl up the edge of the leaf. When they do this, they only lay one egg in the curled end of the leaf and snip the leaf off their tree. They will then go do this to other leaves until they've laid all their eggs.
The males may try to help their mate make their nests, but they typically don't follow the normal procedure. This can lead to the female pushing their mate away after a while. The males may actually help by getting rid of smaller insects that could harm the eggs.
Habitat.
They live in Madagascar, but have a cousin species with the same name that live in New Zealand.
They spend their entire lives on a Dichaetanthera arborea. They are rarely seen not on their tree, except for when they're in the larval stage, as the larvae are born on the collapsed leaves from the Dichaetanthera arborea.
Cool fact that didn't fit here.
They were only discovered in 2008, which unfortunately means that not as much is known about them compared to other insects.
