The Japanese drone beetle is a shiny, flat-backed flower chafer from Japan, Korea, and China that gathers on oak sap in summer; it does not live in the US. Its color shifts from copper to yellow-green with the light, and it flies with its hard wing covers closed. Despite the name, it is not the Japanese beetle that damages gardens in the eastern US.
Appearance
- Appearance
- About 1–1.2 in (25–30 mm) long, flat-backed, with a squarish head and a strong metallic sheen. Colors range from copper and green to blue or purplish.
Look-alikes
Japanese beetlePopillia japonica
The Japanese beetle is much smaller (about 0.6 in, 15 mm), with a green head, coppery wing covers, and a row of white hair tufts along each side.
Why they get mixed upBoth are metallic scarab beetles with "Japanese" in their names.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Broadleaf woods
- Range
- Japan (Honshu south to Kyushu), Korea including Jeju Island, and China. Not found in North America.
Behavior
- Diet
- Adults feed on tree sap, especially from oaks, and on ripe fruit.
Life cycle
- Larva
- Grubs develop in rotting wood or decaying plant matter.
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