Black and yellow fuzzy beetle
Location: San Antonio’ TX
April 5, 2011 8:02 pm
Hi Daniel,
My dog snapped at this beetle while it was flying (thinking it was a fly or bee). He/she fell down and was a little dazed when I rescued him, but he eventually shook it off and flew away… (after getting snapping some photos, of course). He was a little bit flatter than a june bug. He looks similar to the white spotted rose beetles, but his spots are fewer and yellow. I love the fuzz!
Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Bughugger
possibly Dark Flower Scarab
Hi again Bughugger,
We believe this is either the Dark Flower Scarab, Euphoria sepulcralis, also known as the Spangled Flower Beetle, or a closely related species. You can compare your image to some of the images posted to BugGuide.
Dark Flower Scarab, we believe
¶ Posted 05 April 2011 § ‡ ° Beetle
Location: California
April 3, 2011 10:46 am
This Beetle was in Josha Tree park April 2,2011.
Signature: whales
Punctate Little Bear: Paracotalpa puncticollis
Dear whales,
In a relatively short time, we identified your beetle as a Shining Leaf Chafer, Paracotalpa puncticollis, by utilizing the database on BugGuide, but sadly, there is not much information on the species. There are several photos of specimens from Joshua Tree, including this wonderful image. The Texas Beetle Information website identifies it as a Punctate Little Bear. We also located an article from The Coleopterists Bulletin, vol. 26, No. 3 (Sep., 1972), pp. 97-101 that states: “Paracotalpa puncticollis is usually found in pinyon-juniper areas, and appears to be associated with plants of the genus Juniperus. Observations of adults emerging from litter at the base of juniper may indicate that larvae feed on roots of this plant. Adults have been observed feeding on needles of juniper, and analysis of fecal material has confirmed this adult diet. Attempts to find larvae on roots of Juniperus were unsuccessful, and no information is available on the larvae.”
¶ Posted 03 April 2011 § ‡ ° Gnarly, Big Grubs
Location: Southern California
April 1, 2011 9:20 pm
We were digging out our compost heap today and found a bucket full of these suckers. Chickens got a few of them, but we figured we shouldn’t let them at it in case they’d be bad for ’em. We live in Orange County, and the compost has been sitting about two years now. Any idea what these suckers are? Are they poisonous? Do they morph out to something beneficial, or should I just let the chickens have ’em? Any help would be greatly appreciated
Signature: Andrew U.
Crawly-Backs
Hi Andrew,
You have Crawly-Backs in your compost pile. Crawly-Backs get that common name from their habit of propelling themselves through soil on their backs. Crawly-Backs are the larvae of the Green Fruit Beetle, commonly called the Figeater. Such a plentiful supply of Crawly-Backs is a sign that you have a healthy ecosystem in your compost pile and the organic materials are being broken down into usable nutrients for plants. The Crawly-Backs are beneficial in your compost pile and you can see this posting from our archives. When the adult Figeaters appear in August, they may eat your peaches or figs or other fruit, and if they are plentiful, they may cause some damage, but they are beautiful metallic green beetles of considerable size, and we would never think of them as a pest in our home garden. Quite the contrary, we love first hearing them buzzing and then enjoy seeing them as the fly about in a lumbering manner. They really are beautiful beetles and you can see images of adults in our archives. We cannot imagine that eating Crawly-Backs will harm your chickens, however, we are a bit reluctant to give chicken advice. We had a run of back luck last year with our own chickens, the Fuzzy Bottom Gals, though we are going to try raising chickens again this year after making sure we buy vaccinated stock.
Crawly-Back
¶ Posted 02 April 2011 § Grubs ‡ ° Dung Beetle of June Beetle?
Location: Jacksonville FL
March 27, 2011 8:19 pm
I noticed your dogs being unusually curious about some poo in the back yard, I checked and found nothing to my interest haha. Later investigation found a piece partially buried and moving! Digging turned up this specimen.
Signature: Dan
Rainbow Scarab
Hi Dan,
This is a female Rainbow Scarab, a Dung Beetle in the genus Phanaeus, however we do not believe it is Phanaeus vindex, the most commonly encountered species, because the coppery red pronotum that is an identifying characteristic according to BugGuide.
Rainbow Scarab
¶ Posted 28 March 2011 § ‡ ° Oxythyrea?
Location: Israel, Hadera area
March 27, 2011 5:48 am
I spotted this cluster of beetles on a flower. They seem to be very common in the area, they were all over the place. I did a little research and found that this is probably a beetle of the Genus Oxythyrea.
Is this correct?
Thank you
Signature: Gal
White Spotted Rose Beetle
Hi Gal,
Thanks so much for supplying your photo of what we agree is Chafer in the genus Oxythyrea. A photo of a White Spotted Rose Beetle, Oxythyrea funesta, on the Things Biological website matches nicely and the site indicates: “Its distribution includes Italy, France, Malta, Morocco, Asia Minor and parts of the Middle East. It is not a particularly important species economically, though they can significantly impact grape vines and flowering wheat.” The Scarabs of the Levant website indicates four species in the genus Oxythyrea that all look like good matches:
Oxythyrea abigail Reiche and Saulcy, 1856
Oxythyrea cinctella Schaum, 1841 (Cetonia)
Oxythyrea noemi Reiche and Saulcy, 1856
Oxythyrea albopicta Motschulsky, 1845 (Cetonia).
We believe an expert might need to examine your specimens to correctly identify the species.
¶ Posted 27 March 2011 § ‡ ° Hairy Beetle in my wild tulip
Location: Israel, near Modiin
March 16, 2011 3:22 pm
I saw this beetle yesterday in the tulip, covered with pollen. Today it was back again, but only with a light sprinkling of pollen, and almost all the pollen in the tulip had gone. Today I got the camera out. The second photo I call ”hairy beetle doing a headstand…” It obviously does a good job in pollenation of the wild tulips in the area… I did not know there was such a thing as hairy beetles.
Signature: Judith C
Bumble Bee Scarab
Hi Judith,
We really love your photos of what we believe to be a Bumble Bee Scarab Beetle in the family Glaphyridae pollinating the tulip. The Scarabs of the Levant website states: “Glaphyrid beetles are active fliers during the day. Adults of many species are brightly colored and hairy and often possess markings and coloration resembling bees and bumblebees. They are strong fliers and are often observed hovering near flowers or foliage or flying over sandy areas.”
Bumble Bee Scarab
¶ Posted 17 March 2011 § ‡ ° Dung Beetle?
Location: Myrtle Beach SC
March 5, 2011 4:11 pm
My daughter found this beetle in our backyard today in SC, and I was wondering if you could identify it for us. We thought maybe it was a dung beetle. Thanks.
Signature: Lisa Ski
Hump Backed Dung Beetle
Hi Lisa,
We quickly identified your beetle on BugGuide as a Hump Backed Dung Beetle, Deltochilum gibbosum. BugGuide describes the species as a “Large, round dung beetle, mostly dull black. Male has a prominent hump on each elytron.“ That would indicate that your specimen is a male.
Hump Backed Dung Beetle
¶ Posted 05 March 2011 § ‡ ° what are they???
Scarab Beetles
what are they???
Location: temora nsw
March 2, 2011 5:37 am
i found the beatles in my font yard already dead. i have never see them before and would like to know what they are. its summer and was very hot that week around 40
Signature: melissa harris
NOT Green Fiddler Beetle, rather Chlorobapta frontalis
Dear Melissa,
We believe at least one of your beetles is a Green Fiddler Beetle, Eupoecila australasiae, which is a highly variable species. In some individuals, the markings are green and in others they are yellow. There is also some variation in the degree of the markings. Your individual does not appear to have any markings on the pronotum, the foremost part of the thorax, and this is a characteristic we have not found in other images posted online. The Brisbane Insect Website has some nice images of a yellow marked individual. Oz Animals has an image of a yellow marked individual with significantly different markings than your individual. Climate Watch indicates that they have dark brown or black legs, and one of your beetles has distinctly yellow legs. You never sent an image of the dorsal surface of the second beetle you found, so we are curious what it looks like. We wonder perhaps if this is a similar but less well documented member of the same genus. Our searching did turn up another species in the genus, Eupoecila inscripta, which is pictured on FlickR, but it is a very different beetle. We will tag this posting as a Mystery since we are uncertain if both beetles represent the same species. Perhaps one of our more knowledgeable readers will be able to assist.
Scarab Beetle
Correction courtesy of Karl
Hi Daniel and Melissa:
The beetles in the posted images closely resemble Chlorobapta frontalis (Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae). Melissa’s image does show a greenish margin around the front of the pronotum, although it is difficult to make out, but other markings on the rest of the dorsal surface are slightly different. The underside looks quite similar. The differences could be due variability in the species, or this may be a related species. There is one other Chlorobapta species in NSW, C. besti, but I was unable to find any images or descriptions. I can’t be certain about the species, but I believe that Chlorobapta is probably the correct genus. Regards. Karl
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