Does anyone know this insect?

[Sova1970]

Hello,

I recently noticed this small weevil (?), which is about 1mm in length on one of my Gymnocalycium mihanovichii; does anyone know what it is? If it is a pest, how should I eradicate it?

Thanking everyone in advance for their assistance.

Cheers.

[Nino_G]

It's most likely a springtail (Collembola).Most of the species are feeding on decaying plant matter and therefore are harmless for plants (there are some species that are known as pests on agricultural crops, though). Many people have them intentionally in biotope terrariums because they help maintaining hygiene of the soil. If you want to eradicate them, I suppose any insecticide will probably be effective.
Here is the excerpt from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springtail):

"Springtails are well known as pests of some agricultural crops. Sminthurus viridis, the lucerne flea, has been shown to cause severe damage to agricultural crops,[67] and is considered as a pest in Australia.[68][69] Onychiuridae are also known to feed on tubers and to damage them to some extent.[70] However, by their capacity to carry spores of mycorrhizal fungi and mycorrhiza helper bacteria on their tegument, soil springtails play a positive role in the establishment of plant-fungal symbioses and thus are beneficial to agriculture.[71] They also contribute to controlling plant fungal diseases through their active consumption of mycelia and spores of damping-off and pathogenic fungi.[72][73] It has been suggested that they could be reared to be used for the control of pathogenic fungi in greenhouses and other indoor cultures.[74][75]"

I have them in my collection of cacti for many years (even decades) without any apparent harmful effects.

Best regards,
Nino

[Sova1970]

Thank you Nino, I appreciate your response.

[anttisepp]

Look also thrips. A bad greenhouse pest.

[Steve Johnson]

All about thrips -- see this:

https://www.nature-and-garden.com/garde ... ecies.html

[Sova1970]

Thank you to everyone that replied.