Tequila Worms and The Great Agave Meltdown

I have several very large Agave americana century plants in the front flower bed. I knew they would die one day when they shot up a magnificent flower stalk 25 feet in the air as part of their big bang reproduction. I did not realize their death would come sooner as a result of the Tequila worm in the Great Agave Meltdown. (actually it would be the Mezcal worm)

My agaves were attacked by the agave snout weevil (a beetle, Scyphophorus acupunctatus). The female weevil enters the base of the plant to lay eggs in the spring. The eggs hatch into larvae that feed on the core of the plant. Bacteria are also introduced which rot the plant. Then the core of the infested agave eventually collapses due the combination of being eaten and rotting away. There really isn't anything you can do to save the plant. In the case of my agaves the two biggest ones and their pups are dead and the other big one in between looks like it will soon follow.

The beetle larvae, or grubs, are the same larvae found in some mezcal (not really tequila) bottles. They also caused the increase in price of tequila when the agave fields in Mexico became infested.

Last picture of the big agaves before I removed them:
Close up of externally visible damage:
Close up of the agave weevil:
Close up of a larva (tequila worm):

Dissecting the fallen agaves was a mini biological smorgasbord. The rotting tissue was filled with weevils and their larvae, flies and fly larvae, staphylinid beetles and their larvae. So if you have a fallen agave go out and dissect it so see the living microcosm. A curved bill thrasher was gladly helping itself to the exposed larvae while I was pulling the plants out.