Fruit Chafer Beetles (Cetoniinae) — identification, habitat & look-alikes

Fruit and flower chafers include the big green beetles that buzz around ripe fruit in summer and smaller, bee-like beetles that visit flowers. Many species fly with their hard wing covers mostly closed, extending their flight wings through gaps along the sides.

In this group

Common Green June BeetleCotinis nitida

This 0.75–1 in (19–25 mm) green or brown-green beetle is common in summer across the eastern United States.

Figeater BeetleCotinis mutabilis

A large metallic green chafer of California and the Southwest, often noticed buzzing around soft ripe fruit.

Bumble Flower BeetleEuphoria inda

This fuzzy, mottled brown beetle is about 0.5–0.6 in (13–15 mm) long and often visits flowers or overripe fruit.

Appearance

How to recognize it: Many species are oval, sturdy scarabs with metallic green, bronze, or patterned bodies. The side notch in the lets the flight wings unfold while the wing covers remain nearly closed.

Look-alikes

Shining leaf chafersRutelinae

A Japanese Beetle, one common leaf chafer in the eastern U.S., is about 0.5 in (13 mm) long and has coppery wing covers and white hair tufts along its sides. Green June Beetles are much larger and lack that row of tufts.

Why they get mixed upSeveral leaf chafers and fruit chafers are glossy green scarab beetles.

Where it lives

Typical habitats: woodland edges
flowering fields
gardens and orchards
Range: The subfamily occurs worldwide. In the United States, green June beetles are most familiar in the East, figeater beetles in the Southwest and California, and bumble flower beetles across many fields and gardens.
Preferred conditions: Adults gather where flowers, tree sap, or soft ripe fruit are available. Larvae often develop in compost, manure-rich soil, leaf litter, or decaying wood.

Behavior

Diet: Adults take pollen, nectar, sap, or juice from ripe and damaged fruit. Many larvae eat decaying organic matter rather than healthy roots.
Activity: Most familiar species fly strongly during the day.
Overwintering: In Oklahoma, Green June Beetles spend winter as nearly mature larvae in the soil. Timing differs in other species and regions.

Life cycle

Reproduction: These beetles undergo . The larva is usually a pale, C-shaped with a brown head.

Name and classification

About the name: Some specialists place Lasiotrichius and its relatives in a separate subfamily.
Group name: Fruit chafers and flower chafers are common names for Cetoniinae, while the shorter word “chafer” can also mean scarab beetles outside this subfamily.
Number of species: Thousands of species are known worldwide.

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