Billbugs

Billbugs are small, less than a half-inch, and brown, dark gray, or black. Their shell is hard and has a pitted texture. They  have characteristically long snouts, antennae, and wings (though they rarely fly). The larvae are white and legless, the grubs are white with legs. Billbugs will overwinter as adults and become active throughout the warmer months. Females can lay 2-5 eggs a day, ranging up to 200 eggs over a lifetime. The eggs will hatch in about a week.

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Billbugs are especially damaging pests because both the larvae and the mature adults damage grass. The adults will feed on the grasses and then insert eggs into the holes in the stems. Once the eggs hatch, the larvae will also feed on the stem, tunneling up and down the plants. Once they have exhausted the juices from that stem, they will exit and bore into another stem to continue feeding.  As this process continues, the plants will wilt and grasses in the lawn will start to die off. It's often misdiagnosed as a watering problem because the grass will turn brown in patches, similar to a drought effect.

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To learn even more about billbugs, check out our blog post