Pest profile

Fuller Rose Beetle

Pantomorus cervinus (also listed as Naupactus cervinus) · Coleoptera: Curculionidae[2]

Ragged notches along the edges of rose, citrus or photinia leaves, with no insect in sight by day, are often the work of the night-feeding Fuller rose beetle.[1]

Fuller rose beetle, a gray-brown snout beetle with a short broad snout and bulging eyes, seen from the side
Fuller rose beetle, a gray-brown snout beetle with a short broad snout and bulging eyes, seen from the side. (c) Saryu Mae 前 朝琉, some rights reserved (CC BY) — via iNaturalist, CC BY 4.0

How to identify it

  • Adults are brown to gray, hard-bodied weevils about 3/8 inch long with bulging eyes.[1]
  • Eggs are yellowish, laid in masses of several dozen in bark cracks or under the button of citrus fruit.[1]
  • Larvae are plump, legless, whitish to yellow grubs with a brown head, up to 1/2 inch long.[1]

Look-alikes

Look-alikeHow to tell them apart
Cribrate weevil and vegetable weevilThese two common California snout beetles look similar; the shape and angle of the head tell the Fuller rose beetle apart.[1]

Where it lives

Hosts include acacia, avocado, box elder, citrus, oak, photinia, Prunus and Pyrus species, Rhaphiolepis and rose.[1]

US map: public records from 22 states since 1990 (GBIF).

Biology and life cycle

All Fuller rose beetles are females that lay eggs without mating.[1]

Larvae drop to the soil and feed on roots for about 6 to 10 months, then pupate in the soil.[1]

Adults emerge mostly in summer and fall, feed at night, hide in litter by day and can't fly.[1]

There is one generation a year.[1]

Damage and signs

  • Adults chew notches and ragged edges along leaf margins and sometimes blossoms.[1]
  • Neither adult nor root feeding usually threatens healthy plants, except perhaps heavy feeding on young or freshly pruned plants.[1]

Health risk

It feeds only on plants; UC IPM mentions no effect on people.[1]

Control

Prevention

Feeding on healthy woody plants can generally be ignored; UC IPM recommends no insecticides for this weevil in gardens.[1]

Keep them out

Trim branches that touch the ground or other plants, and put a 6-inch sticky band over a trunk wrap so the flightless adults can't climb up.[1]

Biological control

A tiny wasp, Fidiobia citri, often parasitizes up to half the eggs in each egg mass; parasitized eggs turn gold, then black.[1]

Common questions

What is eating notches in my rose leaves at night?
The Fuller rose beetle is a common culprit; it feeds at night and hides in litter during the day.[1]
Can Fuller rose beetles fly?
No. Adults are flightless and reach foliage by climbing trunks or touching branches.[1]

Sources

  1. University of California Statewide IPM Program, “Fuller Rose Beetle (Pests in Gardens and Landscapes).” ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/GARDEN/PLANTS/INVERT/fullerrosebeetle.html (accessed 2026-10-06)
  2. iNaturalist, “Pantomorus cervinus taxon page (order and family).” www.inaturalist.org/taxa/318474 (accessed 2026-10-06)

Updated 2026-10-14. Built from sourced records. Spot an error? Tell us.