February 2006. This beetle, approximately 1 cm in length, was collected from a thorny fruit species Flacourtia inermis Roxb in Sri Lanka. It was not sure if it is the cause of the dieback and death seen.

There were the several suggestions:

• A Curculionidae, possibily Asynonychus cervinus Boheman, 1840, but without any specimen, the species cannot be confirmed. As Asynonychus cervinus is known to be on Citrus and Avocados, check those two groups of plants too.
• The genus Myllocerus. It belongs to a group of broad-nosed weevils called Cyphicerina, which are very diverse in India and surrounding regions. The adult weevils generally feed on young leaves and shoots, the larvae on roots in the soil. It probably is a native species rather than some exotic pest. It is definitely not Asynonychus cervinus (which belongs to a group of broad-nosed weevils called Naupactina).

  Broad-nosed weevils of various groups can sporadically become abundant and defoliate plants (become “pests”), although this rarely leads to plant death. If the weevil is abundant enough to cause defoliation, in all probability it’s just a sporadic outbreak that may not be worth controlling.

• Possibly Myllocerus maculatus. It is a common pest of many crops. The grubs cause more damage as they feed on roots causing plants to wilt.

• The beetle looks very similar to a weevil which is a pest of calamansi (citrus) on Guam which has been tentatively identified as Myllocerus sp.