Species in the elephas clade have convex elytra and a dense vestiture hiding the line of the first ventral segment, whereas the glandium clade weevils have flattened elytra and the first ventral segment clearly visible through the sparse scales.

[4] Tribe Curculionini differs from other weevils, and from other Coleoptera, by the unique cone-shaped mandibles that move vertically instead of horizontally.

Females oviposit within maturing hazelnuts, laying a single, yolk-rich egg per nut, around the end of July/beginning of August.

By the end of the summer, mature larvae leave the nuts by round holes then burrow into the ground where they build individual cells.

Newly formed adults then mainly overwinter in their pupal cases before emerging in the spring of the following year.

Adult females are reproductively immature at emergence and ovarian development is only attained from 1 to 2 months later, after the feeding period.

Basic control of this weevil is spraying the orchards with insecticides (containing for example methomyl, thiacloprid, deltamethrin).

However, countries producing the greatest crop of nuts, such as Turkey, Italy, France and Spain, are working on alternative methods of control.