Identification and Control Methods of the Copper-Green Chafer

The copper-green chafer (Anomala corpulenta Motschulsky) belongs to the order Coleoptera, family Scarabaeidae. It occurs in all regions. It damages cruciferous crops, solanaceous crops, cucurbits, legumes and other crops.

[Field identification] The larvae damage the roots and stems of seedlings, causing missing plants and broken rows, and often occur mixed with the larvae of the Northeast black chafer. Adults prefer to feed on the leaves of fruit trees, forest trees and other crops.

The adult body is about 20 mm long. The head, pronotum, scutellum and elytra are copper-green with a metallic sheen, and bear fine dense punctures; the sides of the head and pronotum and the sides of the elytra are reddish-brown. Each elytron has 3 distinct longitudinal ridges. The mature larva is about 33 mm long, with a yellowish-brown head and a milky-white body, the body being much wrinkled and C-shaped. On the anal ventrum at the posterior end of the abdomen, the hair-covered area, apart from the group of hooked hairs, has two rows of long spines in the middle, 15 to 18 in number, mostly intersecting one another.

[Occurrence pattern] One generation per year. It overwinters as mature larvae below the frozen soil layer, and in early to mid-May of the following year the larvae damage spring-sown crops. Late June to mid-July is the adult damage period. From early August to early October the larvae can also damage autumn crops. Adults are strongly phototactic and feign death.