Odontopus calceatus

Odontopus calceatus is also known as the sassafras weevil, the magnolia leafminer, or the tulip tree leafminer. This insect, as all of these common names suggest, feeds on yellow poplar (tulip tree; Liriodendron tulipifera), sassafras (Sassafras albidum), magnolia (Magnolia spp.), as well as bay laurel (Laurus nobilis). The yellow poplar weevil is native to much of the eastern United States. Both the larvae and the adults of the yellow poplar weevil will feed on its hosts. Adult weevils are 1/10th of an inch long and brown or black in color. Adults feed on the leaves and buds while the larvae mine the leaves. Adult feeding causes irregular holes to form in the leaves. Yellow poplar weevils overwinter as adults in sheltered areas, such as the leaf litter, around their hosts. In the early spring, they initiate feeding on the buds and newly opening leaves of the host plant. By May, they lay eggs in the midrib of the leaves on leaf undersides. Eggs will hatch and the larvae mine the leaves, creating blotch-like mines. This mining begins at the tip (point) of the leaf on tulip tree and Magnolia grandiflora hosts. Yellow poplar weevil larvae are white, legless, and approximately 2 mm long. Up to 9 larvae have been recorded in a single blotch mine (Burns, 1971, notes up to 19 larvae are possible). Larvae are mostly observed in late May and June. Pupation occurs in the leaf mines within fuzzy, brown, spherical cocoons and adults of the new generation emerge to feed on leaves. Adults have been observed feeding as late as August in the southern portions of its range in the US (ex. Mississippi), however it is typical for them to be difficult to find following July. Adult weevils may seek indoor shelters (such as homes) for overwintering protection (Johnson and Lyon, 1991).