THE GREATER OF TWO WEEVILS

This splendid beetle is a weevil.  You can tell that by its prominent snout ( the rostrum) with jaws at the end and elbowed antennae.  

But this particular weevil, about 1cm long, with its matt black body covered in little tufts of orange hairs. is Otiorhyncus  sulcatus, the dreaded VINE WEEVIL.  

The adults bite pieces out of the leaves of many farm and garden plants, working surreptitiously at night.  Worse still, the grubs feed voraciously underground on the roots of many plants, which suddenly wither and come loose in the soil as they lose their attachment.  The adults are all females and cannot fly so they lay their many eggs around the same plants and this becomes a real problem.  

This character must have come into my house via pot plants 

bought from a garden centre a few days ago.

Mostly I try to save insects, spiders and other creepy crawlies that I find in the house, but I'm afraid I felt obliged to euthanise Miss Vine Weevil, hoping she hasn't already laid loads of eggs in my plants.