Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar

TaxonomyBrowse
Info
ImagesLinksBooksData

Species Cotinis nitida - Green June Beetle

large beetle - Cotinis nitida Green June? - Cotinis nitida Beetle ID, please - Cotinis nitida Beetle - Cotinis nitida Cotinis nitida NJ August - Cotinis nitida Green June Beetle - Cotinis nitida Figeater Beetle or Green June Bug? - Cotinis nitida Cotinis nitida
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Coleoptera (Beetles)
Suborder Polyphaga
Superfamily Scarabaeoidea
Family Scarabaeidae (Scarab Beetles)
Subfamily Cetoniinae (Fruit and Flower Chafers)
Tribe Gymnetini
Genus Cotinis
Species nitida (Green June Beetle)
Other Common Names
Fig-eater; Green June Bug
Explanation of Names
Cotinis nitida (Linnaeus 1764)
nitida 'shiny, handsome'
Size
15-27 mm(1)
Identification
Overall size generally smaller than mutabilis, but variable, averaging larger in the south and west. (2)
Pygidium bicolored; basal portion green, apical portion testaceous.
Hind femora usually pale, distinctly lighter in color than remainder of leg.

elytral color variation (interesting but not diagnostic)
Range
e US (NY-FL to NE-TX) - Map (1)(3)
Food
Adults: sap, ripening soft-skinned fruit, incapable of chewing into solid foods despite contrary reports (4); larvae: roots/rhizomes of many plants.
Life Cycle
Eggs spherical, grayish colored, laid in organic-rich soil. Larvae usually emerge after prolonged rain, crawl on their backs over soil or through sod, and overwinter deep in soil. The larvae develop in earthen cells near the surface and pupate in late spring the 2nd year after hatching. Adults emerge in June–July. One generation a year.(5). Largely diurnal, but also comes to lights(6)
Remarks
The adults can often be seen in numbers flying just inches over turf.
species is of great economic importance as attested by the fact that in the last 10 years of publication of the Index of American Economic Entomology (Hawes and Cushman 1949-59) no less than 50 papers on nitida are indexed. (2)
See Also
Goodrich's (1966) key to separating these similar spp:
Pygidium bicolored, apical portion testaceous, basal portion green; hind femora pale - nitida
Pygidium unicolorous; hind femora colored as the tibiae - mutabilis (2)
Works Cited
1.Beetles of Eastern North America
Arthur V. Evans. 2014. Princeton University Press.
2.A Revision of the Genus Cotinis (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)
Goodrich, M.A. 1966. Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 59: 550-568.
3.Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
4.Japanese Beetles Facilitate Feeding by Green June Beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) on Ripening Grapes
Derrick L Hammons, S. Kaan Kurtural, and Daniel A Potter. 2008. Environmental Entomology.
5.National Audubon Society Field Guide to Insects and Spiders
Lorus and Margery Milne. 1980. Knopf.
6.A Manual of Common Beetles of Eastern North America
Dillon, Elizabeth S., and Dillon, Lawrence. 1961. Row, Peterson, and Company.