What Types of Scarab Beetles Are There? With a Complete Picture Guide
The scarab beetle is a common insect with strong adaptability and wide distribution, and it is a pest that harms apple trees, grapevines, peach trees, mulberry trees and willow trees. So what types of scarab beetles are there? How do you prevent and control scarab beetles from damaging crops? With pictures.
1. What types of scarab beetles are there?
1. Japanese rhinoceros beetle (Trypoxylus dichotomus)
The Japanese rhinoceros beetle has a body length of 32.4-95.6 mm and a body width of 18-38 mm; it is elongated oval in shape, and the dorsal surface is very strongly arched. The body is chestnut brown to dark brown; the head is relatively small, and the antennae have 10 segments, of which the lamellate club is made up of 3 segments. The male has a forked horn at the end of the top of the head, and the center of the pronotum bears a horn with a forked end; the dorsal surface is relatively smooth and glossy. The female is slightly smaller, with no horns on the head or thorax, but the center of the face is raised with 3 small transverse tubercles, and the center of the front part of the pronotum has a T-shaped groove; the dorsal surface is relatively rough and dull. The three pairs of long legs are strong and powerful, each ending in a pair of sharp claws, which are effective tools for climbing.
2. Korean black scarab beetle
The adult Korean black scarab beetle has a body length of 20-25 mm and a width of 8-11 mm. It is dark brown and glossy; the elytra are dark brown, the junction of the two elytra forms a longitudinal raised line, and each elytron has 3 longitudinal raised lines. The center of the ventral surface of the last abdominal segment is concave in the male, with a relatively deep transverse groove in front, while in the female the center is raised and the transverse groove is not obvious.
3. Copper green scarab beetle (Anomala corpulenta)
The adult copper green scarab beetle has a body length of 18-21 mm and a width of 8-10 mm. The dorsal surface is copper green and glossy, and the sides of the pronotum are yellow. The elytra have a chestnut-colored reflection and 3 longitudinal raised lines. The ventral surface of the male is dark brown, and that of the female is light yellowish brown. The egg is round and milky white. The larva, called a white grub, is milky white and stout, bending toward the ventral surface into a “C” shape, with 3 pairs of thoracic legs and a brown head.
4. Dark black scarab beetle
The adult dark black scarab beetle has a body length of 18-22 mm and a width of 8-9 mm, and is dark brown with no gloss. The elytra have 3 longitudinal raised lines. There are short, small blue-gray hairs on the wings and abdomen, and the elytra have 4 indistinct longitudinal lines. Because it is very similar in color and body shape to the Korean black scarab beetle, it is not easy to distinguish; the differences are that the adult is dark brown with no gloss, the pygidium is not semicircular, and the boundary at the center between abdominal segments is obvious. The larval anus opens at the end of the abdomen. Its living habits are roughly the same as those of the Korean black scarab beetle. Only the adult emergence period is slightly later.
2. How do you prevent and control scarab beetles from damaging crops?
Scarab beetles are gregarious, play dead, and are phototactic, and the damage is most obvious on hot, windless nights. Taking advantage of their phototaxis, orchards with the conditions can install black light lamps or 60W bulbs, and the trapping and killing effect is remarkable. Using black-green single-tube double light lamps can increase the trapping and killing of scarab beetles by about 10% compared with black light lamps; you can also take advantage of their habit of playing dead by shaking the branches in the morning or evening to knock the scarab beetles down under the tree canopy, then use a knapsack sprayer aimed at the scarab beetles in the dead-playing state to spray and kill them. Taking advantage of the adults' habit of entering the soil to rest, during the adult occurrence period you can spread pesticide on the ground; you can use 48% chlorpyrifos emulsifiable concentrate at 300-500 times, or 50% phoxim emulsifiable concentrate at 300-500 times to spray the ground, wetting the surface soil, which can effectively kill them.
In addition, some fruit growers suggest using sugar-vinegar liquid for trapping and killing. To prepare the sugar-vinegar liquid, mix baijiu, brown sugar, vinegar and water at 1:1:4:16, add a small amount of chlorpyrifos insecticide, stir evenly with a stick, then divide it into glass canning jars with the tops cut off or similar open containers, and hang them in the orchard or along the edge of corn fields, with 5-10 per mu. Check the insect trapping situation frequently, remove the insects from the bottles, and according to the types of pests trapped, you can also predict the pest occurrence situation for control.