Big iridescent green beetles in Maryland
Location: Northern Carroll County, Maryland
July 3, 2011 1:36 pm
Dear Bugman,
Today a hundred big beetles are buzzing around the top of the newly cut grass. Don’t remember ever seeing them, and certainly not in such numbers. The attached do not do justice to the sheen they glow in the sun. I’m stumped! Thanks for any help you can give.
Signature: Yours, Bucky Edgett
Hi Bucky,
This is a Green June Beetle, Cotinis nitida. According to BugGuide: “The adults can often be seen in numbers flying just inches over turf. The larvae may be considered pests because they destroy the roots of valuable plants.”
Dear Daniel,
Thank you for such a prompt reply. Unlike mine!
Okay, I’ve read up on them and since our yard is mostly dandelions, plantains and clover, I’ll just let the grubs feed. Maybe the aeration will even help.
I don’t remember ever having seem them swarming they way they did this summer. And I don’t remember Green June beetles. I’ve always thought of Junebugs as brown. Interesting. Live and learn, eh? Thanks for your help. Nature will take its course. Maybe we’ll now get a lot of the parastic wasps eating the grubs!
Yours truly,
Bucky Edgett
June 29, 2013- Thanks for this article. The past couple of days our back yard has been “swarming” with these beetles- bright green fluorescent. I’ve lived here over 20 years and have never seen them. Like Bucky, our lawn consists of green weeds we just keep mowed! I guess we’ll just leave them be for now, however I have decided against hanging out the laundry until they are gone!
Thanks
Phyllis
Hi Phyllis,
The beetles will not harm your laundry. They might accidentally fly into the sheets, but they will not harm your clothes nor will they harm you.
They are also swarming in our Olney, MD yard. I also had not seen them in previous years. They had me stopped dead in my tracks when I observed their behavior while mowing the yard… thought they might be some sort of bee
i live in southern carroll county and have these things swarming in my yard! have lived here my whole life and have never seen anything like this! you cannot go outside during the day there are thousands of them! when will they go away? will they be here all summer? we cannot even have a cook out . why are they here, how did they get here. i read they feed on fruit, we do not have fruit trees, i am FREAKED out!!
Like you all have already stated….. I too have these flying everywhere!! I’m in Walkersville, Md and have never seen these “green” beetles. Mine here are more of a lighter green than the above pics, and some are completely green with no brown edges. They’re huge and randomly hit the house with a loud thug. I’ve seen a few land in the grass today and try to burrow down (I suppose to lay their eggs) but the bottom of my shoe does not let that happen! They are really hampering my mowing, because they randomly fly into me. They freak me out, whether they are non-harmful to humans or not.
Born and raised south Central PA and have never seen these until a couple of years ago, swarming in my yard and the neighbor’s. I spend a great deal of time outdoors. I know the brown June bugs and coppery brown and shiny green small Japanese beetles, but these are new to me.
Middle Eastern Shore-I don’t recall ever seeing these bugs in the numbers we are experiencing. We planted blackberries and boy are we sorry. We can hardly get a
decent picking because the beetles are all over them.
We have them here in Western PA evidently. I don’t remember ever seeing them before this week. I saw one the other day floating in the pool. Now there are dozens this morning flying all around the back of the house.