Diet

• Adults: Primarily herbivorous, feeding on leaves, buds and tender plant tissues of their host plants.

• Larvae: Develop inside rolled leaves prepared by the female. The larva feeds on the leaf tissue within this protected shelter as it develops.

• Leaf rolling provides both a food source and protection from predators and environmental conditions.

Range

• Omolabus is a Neotropical genus of leaf-rolling weevils, occurring primarily in Mexico, Central America and South America.

• Mexico supports several species, particularly in warm tropical and subtropical regions.

• Omolabus occurs in Guerrero and around Zihuatanejo, where tropical vegetation provides suitable host plants.

• Around Zihuatanejo, these weevils are occasional, but they can become locally noticeable where their preferred host plants are abundant.

Habitat

• Found in tropical dry forest, tropical deciduous forest, woodland, scrub, forest edges, gardens and secondary vegetation.

• Adults are generally found on young foliage and tender shoots.

• Look for the distinctive rolled or folded leaves created by females; these can remain attached to the plant after the adult has moved away and are often the easiest indication that Omolabus is present.

Size

• Adult length: approximately 4–8 mm (0.16–0.31 in), depending on species.

• Body compact and somewhat cylindrical, with a short to moderately elongated rostrum.

• Colouration is commonly brown, reddish-brown, black or metallic, sometimes with contrasting bands or patches.

• The antennae are elbowed, as in other weevils.