Missouri using weevils to control weeds by roads

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- State officials are deploying a small bug with a long snout to try to control the spread of a particular weed along Missouri roadways.

The "seedhead weevils" are being used to eat the flowers and seeds of the spotted knapweed.

The Missouri Department of Transportation says the weeds typically grow in poor soil along cut rocks and steel slopes and produce a herbicide in their roots that kills other nearby plants.

Although some consider their flowers to be pretty, the knapweeds can spread onto private lawns and pastures and are hard to eliminate.

But seedhead weevils can spread through a knapweed patch in a few years. The department says a second kind of weevil, sometimes called a "cy," also is used to control the knapweeds.