Sigh of relief: It’s a weevil, not a tick
Lee Stivers first noticed the little, black bugs Sunday as they clung to her living room window. Concerned that they were ticks, the horticulture extension educator with Penn State Extension, Washington County, went out to investigate. She was relieved by what she found.
“They’re weevils,” Stivers said about the pests covering cars and windows. “People are starting to bring them into our office for identification.”
Stivers said people are confusing the yellow poplar weevil, which is actually a beetle, not a tick.
The two closely resemble one another, and with tick-transmitted Lyme disease on the rise, people are concerned. Washington and Greene counties saw a combined 41 cases of Lyme disease in 2014.
The symptoms of Lyme disease include a bull’s-eye rash at the site of a bite, fatigue, chills, headache, muscle and joint paint and swollen lymph nodes. The greatest risk for tick bites is in the summer months. While yard pesticides are available, the best method to prevent a tick bite is to wear long clothing.
“They are just showing up as imposters,” Stivers said of the beetles. “The way to tell the difference? Weevils have what look like snouts – long pointy noses – with antennae close to the end. Ticks don’t have snouts. Also if you poke at a weevil, it will probably fly away. Ticks can’t fly.”
Stivers said weevils are “general feeders,” and don’t pose any harm to humans.
Each June, Stivers said the beetles cause alarm. Penn State entomologist Greg Hoover said June is the “growing season for the adult weevil.”
“The adults are approximately 2 to 3 millimeters and with their pair of antennae, people might think they are seeing a total of four pairs of legs, and thus, believe they’re observing a tick,” Hoover said, adding that the weevil is seldom seen in eastern Pennsylvania.
“They won’t hurt people. They won’t spread Lyme disease,” Stivers said. “In both the adult and larval stages, they feed on the leaves of certain trees, including yellow poplar, tuliptree, magnolia and sassafras. Only in rare situations do they do enough damage to these trees to warrant control measures. I expect that by late July, they will be pretty scarce.”