Platyrhinus resinosus (Scopoli, 1763)
Resin Weevil

In the UK this species is classified as nationally scarce (B) but there appears to have been an increase in both range and abundance over recent years and this is probably no longer appropriate. It is locally common across south and central England and South Wales in wooded habitats, including parkland and gardens, and is associated with the fungus Daldinia concentrica which develops primarily on Fraxinus (ash) but also occasionally beech and other broadleaf trees. Adults have a long season, we have recorded them in January, persisting into late summer or autumn and are both diurnal and nocturnal, they can often be found active or at rest during the day on fallen timber or logs etc. but may be cryptic to the inexperienced eye as they resemble bird droppings. Mating occurs throughout the spring and eggs are laid from late spring into the summer, several eggs are laid directly into the fruiting body which will host the larvae until they bore into the underlying wood to complete their development over one or two years; fully grown larvae construct pupal chambers in the wood during late summer or autumn but resulting adults remain in their chambers until the following year. The wider distribution includes the whole of Europe north to the Arctic Circle in Scandinavia, northwest Africa, Iran, Israel, Ukraine etc. and east into western Siberia. On the continent it is locally common and appears on a wider range of fungi e.g. in Scandinavia mainly on Hypoxylon fragiforme, which occurs mainly on Fagus (beech) but also on other broadleaf trees, H. multiforme (mainly on birch) and H. fuscum (birches) as well as Daldinia concentrica, in northern areas mostly on Daldinia loculata which develops on fire-damaged birch and it has been recorded from other species e.g. Ustulina deusta (develops on a wide range of broadleaf trees) and Fomes fomentarius (mostly on birch in the north, more catholic in southern areas).