antler beetle - top - Polyphylla cavifrons

Upon further review, ...

looks like P. cavifrons. The number of lamellate antennal segments shown in this photo (4) makes anyone familiar with the genus look twice as they do not coincide with males of Polyphylla which have seven lamellae. I suspect some of the lamellae are closed tightly to each other suggesting fewer lamellate plates. The locality data would also coincide with P. cavifrons ecological association(s).

Just my .02¢ ...

… D.A. La Rue, 18 July, 2010 - 8:36pm

A very atypical P. cavifrons, ...

... if that's what it is and the locality is correct. They usually are avittate (lacking longitudinal vittae (lines), but anything is possible in nature.
Nearly a year later, just my .06¢ - allowing for inflation.

… D.A. La Rue, 2 July, 2014 - 3:56pm

Moved

Moved from Lined June Beetles.

… Robin McLeod, 5 July, 2010 - 2:59pm

Polyphylla cavifrons

… Mirabilis, 4 July, 2010 - 10:24pm

Moved

Moved from Melolonthini.

… MJ Paulsen, 15 August, 2008 - 11:42am

Moved

Moved from Scarab Beetles.

… Eric R. Eaton, 17 December, 2007 - 5:15pm

Unfortunately, didn't keep.

Although I wanted to collect a lot of the stuff from the southwest, I only have photos. It's probably just as well; our excuse for having a van full of bugs would probably sound pretty lame to border officials.

Moved from Lined June Beetles to family page.

… Robin McLeod, 27 August, 2007 - 5:44pm

Well...

Many similar western genera, like Dinacoma and Thyce. I could be wrong, but something about this just doesn't look right, maybe isn't Polyphylla - did you keep?

… Phillip Harpootlian, 27 August, 2007 - 2:38pm

Male.

The antennae are indicative of a male specimen. Females have much smaller antennae. There seems to be great variation in degree of striping, so it is not possible to determine the species based on color pattern alone.

… Eric R. Eaton, 26 July, 2007 - 5:01pm

polyphylla

How do we find out what to look for to differentiate these beetles please? I am looking at a copy of 'American Beetles' by Arnett et al. The book refers to 9 or 10 segmented antennae separately from the antennal club, and I cant see that many on the Bugguide samples, nor for my sample.

… coultersca, 3 August, 2007 - 11:07pm

In Neartic species of Polyphylla, ...

males have ten-segmented antennae with the outer (apical) seven segments being lamellate (plates); females have a compact antennal "club" composed of five lamellae.

… D.A. La Rue, 8 August, 2010 - 12:56pm

good question

I have no reference books on beetles, so can't help, but I heard somewhere that 'American Beetles' only goes to the genus level, and if so, it would be of no use in trying to differentiate species.

If you find the answer to your question, please let us know so we can add that info to the Guide page(s) for future reference.

… Robin McLeod, 4 August, 2007 - 9:32am