Ever seen a hairy beetle before? You probably have, but don’t realize it!
The "June Bug" (or May Beetles as some call them) is a member of the scarab beetle family which has approximately 1375 species in North America. On warm spring and summer nights, these beetles are famous for bumping into your porch lights, or you if you get in the way of their clumsy flying.
They are nocturnal, but during the day they hide in the shade of leaf litter, in cracks or under things on the ground around your home to stay cool and out of sight of lizards and birds, their main predators. The adults are ½ to 5/8 inches long, reddish brown in color and feed on the foliage of trees and shrubs. White "C"-shaped larvae (grubs), are up to 1 inch long, with cream-colored bodies and brown head capsules and feed on the roots of grasses and other plants.
The insects pupate (change from grub to beetle) underground in the fall. There is one generation per year, but in colder climates, development may take two years. Adults begin to emerge in spring. During adult flights large numbers of beetles can be attracted to lights. Peak flights occur in mid to late June in central Texas, but if the weather is warm, you will start to see them as early as March. They may cause significant plant damage if they emerge in large numbers.
Humans who go to great pains to have “perfect” lawns may consider them a pest species, as the larvae can damage turf grasses, but as far as their natural predators in the food chain are concerned, they are irreplaceable as a food source!
No comments:
Post a Comment