Smallish Green Scarab Beetle
This green scarab beetle was crawling on our kitchen window on May 27, 2024. It was about the size of a pea. In these pictures, it was crawling around on my left hand while I used my right hand to run the camera.
We can tell it is a scarab because of the way that the antennae end in a cluster of little “fingers”.
It also has a pale, furry underside. You can also get an idea of its size by comparing it to the hairs on the back of my hand.
It turns out I photographed one of these way back in 2015. These pictures are brighter and a bit sharper, though, because the light was better this time. It is a type of small June Beetle in the genus Dichelonyx, and judging from the range maps it is likely to be Dichelonyx linearis.
The adults feed on the leaves of hardwood and conifer leaves during the month or so that they are around as adult beetles. Shortly after taking these pictures, we found several more of them on the leaves of a beech tree that we just planted a couple of weeks ago, but not in sufficient numbers to be too damaging. I expect that, like a lot of other scarabs, their larvae live underground where they feed on plant roots.
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