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Genus Serica

Dung beetle? - Serica May Beetle - Serica Black scarab - Serica Serica Scarab Beetle - Serica atracapilla Dark scarab - Serica Scarab at lights - Serica Melolonthinae from scrub oak litter - Serica
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 Melolonthinae (May Beetles and Junebugs)
Tribe Sericini
Genus Serica
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
under revision
Explanation of Names
Serica MacLeay 1819
from Latin sericus, 'silky'
Numbers
~110 spp. in our area(1), ~380 total(2)
Size
6‒11 mm
Identification
most species can only be reliably identified using the male genitalia. Females often identifiable to species only by association with the males.
keys to spp.: SC(3) • NE(4) • Canada & w.US(5)
Food
Adults eat leaves of deciduous trees
Life Cycle
Larvae prune roots of assorted plants near ground surface(6)
Remarks
Common at lights
Works Cited
1.Checklist and Nomenclatural Authority File of the Scarabaeoidea of the Nearctic Realm. Version 4.
Andrew B. T. Smith. 2009. Electronically published, Ottawa, Canada. 97 pp.
2.Catalogue of Life
3.Scarab beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) of South Carolina
Phillip J. Harpootlian. 2001. Clemson University Public Service.
4.The Scarabaeoid Beetles of Nebraska
Brett C. Ratcliffe & M.J. Paulsen. 2008. University of Nebraska State Museum, Vol 22, 570 pp.
5.A Review of the Serica (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae) of Mexico, Canada, and the western United States
Reese John Worthington. 2018.
6.Peterson Field Guides: Beetles
Richard E. White. 1983. Houghton Mifflin Company.