Japanese giant weevil

Sipalinus gigas · Order: Coleoptera · Family: Dryophthoridae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Japanese giant weevil
Photo: Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE, CC BY-SA 2.0

Sipalinus gigas is a beetle that grows to about 12 to 30 mm long and has a brownish crusty coating with a moderately curved, punctured beak. It lives under the bark of dying or felled trees, where its larvae develop in dead or decaying wood, and it is native to parts of Asia and Australasia.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

The beetle’s surface is covered with a brownish crusty coating, its beak is moderately curved and punctured, the pronotum is longer than wide, and the elytra have dark brown stripes with whitish tubercle-bearing areas.

Source: Wikipedia

Size

Adults measure between 12 and 30 mm in length.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

They are typically found under the bark of dying or recently cut trees, and the larvae live inside dead or decaying wood.

Source: Wikipedia

What it eats

Both adults and larvae feed on the wood of dead or dying trees.

Source: Wikipedia

Life cycle

The beetle’s life cycle is tied to dead or decaying trees, with larvae developing inside the wood before emerging as adults.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

The species occurs in Korea, China, Japan, the Himalayas, India, and across Australasia from the Philippines to New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and eastern Australia.

Source: Wikipedia

More photos

Japanese giant weevil photo 3
Photo: Tambe, CC BY-SA
Japanese giant weevil photo 4
Photo: KKPCW, CC BY-SA
Japanese giant weevil photo 5
Photo: KKPCW, CC BY-SA
Japanese giant weevil photo 6
Photo: KKPCW, CC BY-SA

Questions people ask

Where can I find Sipalinus gigas?

Look for them under the bark of dying or freshly felled trees, especially in their native Asian and Australasian range.

Source: Wikipedia

How big does Sipalinus gigas get?

Adults range from about 12 mm up to 30 mm long.

Source: Wikipedia

What does Sipalinus gigas look like?

It has a brownish crusty coating, a moderately curved punctured beak, a pronotum longer than wide, and elytra with dark brown stripes and whitish tubercles.

Source: Wikipedia

Same family (Dryophthoridae)

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sipalinus_gigas

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-23.

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