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
Upcoming Events

Photos of insects and people from the 2024 BugGuide gathering in Idaho July 24-27

Moth submissions from National Moth Week 2024

Photos of insects and people from the 2022 BugGuide gathering in New Mexico, July 20-24

Photos of insects and people from the Spring 2021 gathering in Louisiana, April 28-May 2

Photos of insects and people from the 2019 gathering in Louisiana, July 25-27

Photos of insects and people from the 2018 gathering in Virginia, July 27-29


Previous events


TaxonomyBrowse
Info
ImagesLinksBooksData

Genus Cyclocephala - Masked Chafers

Cyclocephala - Cyclocephala lurida Found drowning - Cyclocephala - male FL Cyclocephala sp. male - Cyclocephala lurida Masked Chafer - Cyclocephala Masked Chafer - Cyclocephala - male Cyclocephala? - Cyclocephala Male, Cyclocephala pasadenae? - Cyclocephala pasadenae - male Female, Cyclocephala pasadenae? - Cyclocephala - female
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 Dynastinae (Rhinoceros Beetles)
Tribe Cyclocephalini
Genus Cyclocephala (Masked Chafers)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Explanation of Names
Cyclocephala Dejean 1821
'round head'; common name refers to the darker area between the eyes, "mask"
Numbers
the largest genus in the subfamily, with 13 (14) spp. in our area(2), ~340 total(1)
still missing from guide: puberula LeConte, 1863 [se US], wandae Hardy, 1974 [CA];
C. knobelae was found synonym to robusta.
Identification
Similar to many Phyllophaga, but note these characters:
typically pale yellow dorsum with dark head
front legs in males with apical tarsomere and inner tarsal claw noticeably enlarged
clypeus somewhat rounded

Keys to species in (3)(4)(2)(5)
Range
New World, mostly tropical(2)
Food
Larvae are root feeders; may damage crops
Remarks
Adults come to lights
Works Cited
1.Generic Guide to New World Scarab Beetles (by Brett Ratcliffe and Mary Liz Jameson)
2.The Scarabaeoid Beetles of Nebraska
Brett C. Ratcliffe & M.J. Paulsen. 2008. University of Nebraska State Museum, Vol 22, 570 pp.
3.Synoptic revision of the United States scarab beetles of the subfamily Dynastinae, No. 1: Tribe Cyclocephalini
Saylor L.W. 1945. J. Wash. Acad. Sci. 35: 378‒386.
4.Scarab beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) of South Carolina
Phillip J. Harpootlian. 2001. Clemson University Public Service.
5.The Dynastine Scarab Beetles of the USA and Canada (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae)
Brett C. Ratcliffe & Ronald D. Cave. 2017. University of Nebraska State Museum, Vol 30, 298 pp.