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Beetles (Turf & Ornamental)
Latin Name: Hoplia callipyge
Common Name: Hoplia beetle
Other Names: Grapevine hoplia
Pest Details
Origin:
These are native beetles in North America.
Biology:
This species is the complement to the Rose Chafer of the eastern U.S., occurring in western North America from British Columbia south to Baja California and east to Utah and New Mexico. The adults feed on flowers of several plants but most often on roses, particularly on white or yellow flowered varieties.
Identification:
Adult beetles are about 3/8 inch long and are a dark tan to reddish brown color on the wings and with darker striping present, and with the head and thorax darker in color. The prothorax may have a slightly metallic tint to it.
Characteristicts Important to Control:
Control will be aimed primarily at the adult beetles using contact insecticides applied when the beetles are present on ornamental plants. Spraying
Latin Name: Popillia japonica
Common Name: Japanese beetle
Other Names: N/A
Pest Details
Origin:
This terrible pest is a native of Japan, but was first discovered in the U.S. in 1916 in New Jersey. It now occupies and heavily infests the entire Northeast U.S. and southeastern Canada, with the Mississippi River about its western border.
Biology:
The larvae feed on the roots of grasses and will be extremely damaging to turf. There is a single generation per year in most areas, but the life cycle may require 2 years in cooler northern regions. Late stage larvae overwinter and adult beetles emerge in late spring. The adult beetles gather and feed in large accumulations, damaging or defoliating shrubs, trees, and agricultural crops. Their feeding usually causes skeletonizing of the leaf, leaving only the thicker veins behind.
Identification:
This beetle is about ½ inch long with a dark metallic green thorax
Latin Name: Chrysolina quadrigemina
Common Name: Klamath weed beetle
Other Names: N/A
Pest Details
Origin:
These beetles are native to Northern Africa and Europe.
Biology:
This is one of two nearly identical species of beetles imported from Europe for control of the noxious weed St. John’s Wort (Hypericum performatum), also referred to as Klamath Weed. While this plant is used commercially it also is an introduced weed in North America and many other continents and has become an invasive weed. Livestock that feed on the plant develop skin that is highly sensitive to sunlight, forming blisters, scaps, and they lose weight. In western United States the weed overwhelmed over 400,000 acres of open range before the beetles were introduced in 1944. The beetles have helped reduce the spread of the weed but also feed on ornamental Hypericum, which is related to St. John’s Wort. Both adults and larvae feed only on Hypericum plants.
Latin Name: Polyphylla sp.
Common Name: Lined June beetles
Other Names: N/A
Pest Details
Origin:
At least 2 dozen of these native beetles occur in North America.
Biology:
The life cycles and habits of this group are similar to those of the June and May beetles in the genus Phyllophaga. The adults feed on many different plants, including the needles of pines and foliage of other plants, and the larvae feed on the roots of grasses, nursery plants, some agricultural crops, and ornamentals. Peak emergence of these beetles is often in May through June, as their common names suggest. Life cycles require from 1 to 4 years to complete, with 3-year cycles the most common for our pest species. The larvae may move up and down in the soil periodically during the year to coincide with winter temperatures or hot and dry summer temperatures. Winters are spent deeper in the soil as either second or third instar grubs. Adults
Latin Name: Cyclocephala sp.
Common Name: Masked chafers
Other Names: Northern masked chafer, Southern masked chafer
Pest Details
Origin:
These are native insects in North America.
Biology:
This genus represents another large group of important turf pests, with over 21 species in North America that are widely distributed. Within the genus two species stand out as the most important, the Northern and Southern masked chafers. The Northern occurs across the northern U.S. from New England to California and the Southern is common in the southern states south into Central and South America, and ranging north into the Upper Midwest states. Adults emerge and are active from mid June to late July, often coming to lights at night in large numbers. Adult beetles do not feed. The females then burrow into the soil to deposit up to 14 eggs. The larvae then feed on roots of plants as well as thatch and other organic
Latin Name: Phyllophaga sp.
Common Name: May or June beetles
Other Names: June bugs, White grubs (the larva)
Pest Details
Origin:
At least 152 species in the genus Phyllophaga occur as native insects in the United States and Canada, most in the eastern half of the U.S., and according to some sources there may be up to 400 species in North America. There are 100 species in Texas.
Biology:
While there are a great many species in the genus very few are pest problems. Of the 100 species in Texas, for example, only Phyllophaga crinita poses serious problems for turf. Seven different species are pest problems in the Northeast. Adult beetles feed on a wide variety of ornamental trees and shrubs as well as fruit trees. Oak trees seem to be preferred host plants, while adults of some species will also feed on the blades of grasses. Peak emergence of these beetles is often in May through June, as their common names suggest.
Latin Name: Dendroctonus ponderosae
Common Name: Mountain pine beetle
Other Names: Black Hills beetle, Rocky Mountain pine beetle
Pest Details
Origin:
This beetle is a native insect in western North America, from Mexico to British Columbia.
Biology:
This is considered to be one of the most destructive of the bark beetles, with 10 or more species of pines known to be fed upon and killed by it. The adults attack living trees and bore egg galleries in the cambium that may be up to 3 feet long. The larvae then chew feeding channels outward from the egg gallery, easily girdling trees when the infestation is heavy. In addition, a fungus may be introduced when the adult beetle enters and this fungus is capable of further blocking the vascular system of the tree. Trees typically turn brown and die the following year. There is one generation of the beetles each year.
Identification:
The adult beetle is about 5 mm long and black.
Latin Name: Hylurogopinus rufipes
Common Name: Native elm bark beetle
Other Names: N/A
Pest Details
Origin:
This is a native beetle in North America.
Biology:
This native beetle attacks elm trees, in particular American, Siberian, and Chinese elms. Adult beetles overwinter in chambers at the base of elm trees, emerging in the spring to fly to dying or recently killed branches of elm trees where the female burrows under the bark, bores a gallery in that area, and deposits eggs along both sides of this channel. The larvae then burrow outward from this egg channel to feed in the cambium of the tree. New adults emerge from these trees carrying the Dutch Elm Disease fungus on them, Ophiostoma ulmi, and fly to new, healthy trees to feed on the bark, creating small holes and infecting these new trees. The fungus then moves through the vascular system of the tree, resulting in sudden wilting of the foliage and death of the tree. There is
Latin Name: Sciopithes obscurus
Common Name: Obscure root weevil
Other Names: N/A
Pest Details
Origin:
This is a native species in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S.
Biology:
Like many other ornamental weevils the females of this species create a small egg chamber by folding over the margin of a leaf, then depositing several eggs in that chamber. It feeds on a wide variety of ornamental and agricultural plants, the adults feeding on the foliage and the larvae feeding on the roots. They are a particular pest on rhododendrons in the Pacific Northwest, as well as on strawberries and in nurseries and greenhouses.
Identification:
Adult beetles are from 5-7 mm long and cylindrical in appearance. They have a very short snout with the elbowed antennae arising near the end of the snout well in front of the eyes. They are an overall mottled brown color with a distinctive wavy darker band across the wing covers
Latin Name: Anomala orientalis
Common Name: Oriental beetle
Other Names: N/A
Pest Details
Origin:
This beetle is native to eastern Asia and was introduced into the Hawaiian Islands on the island of Oahu before 1908, where it has been a serious pest of sugarcane. It was then found in the mainland U.S. in 1920 in Connecticut, presumably in nursery stock from Japan. It now ranges from North Carolina to the New England states.
Biology:
The adult beetles do little damage with their minor feeding on flowers, but the larvae are potentially serious turf pests, with over 50 grubs per square foot commonly found. The larvae overwinter as the last stage, feed again in the early spring and pupate in June. The adult beetles are then present through the summer months and are active in the daytime.
Identification:
The adult beetle is about ½ inch long and with the typical scarab beetle shape of well-rounded elytra, rounded thorax flattened