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Species Chrysina gloriosa - Glorious Scarab

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 Rutelinae (Shining Leaf Chafers)

Tribe Rutelini

Genus Chrysina

Species gloriosa (Glorious Scarab)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

≡Plusiotis gloriosa

Explanation of Names

Chrysina gloriosa (LeConte 1854)

Identification

distinctive

Range

w.TX‒se.AZ; Mexico

common in the vicinity of the AMNH Southwest Research Station near Portal, AZ(1)

Season

Jun‒Aug based on 130+ specimens in the TAMUIC(2)

Food

Adults feed on Juniper foliage; larvae abundant in decaying sycamore (Platanus wrightii) logs in se.AZ(1)

Life Cycle

Pupation in soil in Jun(1)

Remarks

Pure red forms are rare.

Dave Marqua reports (pers. comm. to MAQ, 2011) only getting about one per yr at his lights in the Davis Mtns of west Texas.

Russell Witkop reports (pers. comm. to MAQ, 2011) "Not only have we caught a pure red one [in AZ] but red tinge is common where we go. I happen to have caught the only Purple [tinged] speciman ever known."

Pure red form from Davis Mtns:

Photo1, Photo2 of pure red from from SE AZ - CalPhotos

Transitional series from Davis Mtns:

Intermediate forms from TX and AZ:

Witkop's purple spmn from AZ:

Print References

Cazier, M.A. 1951. The genera Chrysina and Plusiotis of north central Mexico (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae). American Museum Novitates, 1516: 1-8.

Fagerlund, R. 1999. A Preliminary Checklist of the Beetles (Coleoptera) of New Mexico With Notes on Their Distribution. Environmental Services, Physical Plant Dept., The University of New Mexico. Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Hawks, D.C. 2001. Taxonomic and nomenclatural changes in Chrysina and synonymic checklist of species (Scarabaeidae: Rutelinae). Occasional Papers of the Consortium Coleopterorum. 4(1): 1-8.

Ritcher, P.O. 1966. White Grubs and Their Allies, a Study of North American Scarabaeoid Larvae. Oregon State University Monograph Series No. 4: 1-219.

Young, F.N. 1957. Notes on the habits of Plusiotis gloriosa LeConte (Scarabaeidae). The Coleopterists Bulletin, 11(3-4): 67-70.

Internet References

Texas Entomology (Quinn 2005)

Works Cited

1.	White Grubs and Their Allies, a Study of North American Scarabaeoid Larvae Paul O. Ritcher. 1966. Oregon State University Press, Corvallis. 219 pp.

2.	Texas A&M University Insect Collection (TAMUIC)

Contributed by Hannah Nendick-Mason on 4 September, 2004 - 6:51am
Additional contributions by Mike Quinn, Aaron Schusteff, v belov
Last updated 8 November, 2025 - 9:27pm

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