Cotinis nitidus
From BugwoodWiki
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Description
Adults have dull-green wings with shiny, metallic-green head and undersides. The sides are a shiny copper color. Grubs are dull white with brown head and legs. The legs are short for the body size, and the grubs crawl on their backs with legs up in the air.
Hosts
Grubs are pests of grasses and some other tender young plants. Adults damage fruits, grapes, and flowers.
Damage
Adults feed on ripe fruits of several types, including peach, fig and grapes. Occasional damage to other fruits and flowers also occurs. More serious damage is done to pastures and turf grasses by the tunneling of both adults and grubs, which disturbs the roots and increases drying of the soil in the root zone. Heavily infested grass is easily dislodged by foot traffic or livestock grazing.
Photo by Clemson University - USDA Cooperative Extension Slide Series, , Bugwood.org
Life Cycle
Adults emerge in early summer. They are active in the daytime, feeding and flying over grassy areas in search of egg laying sites. They return to the soil each night. Eggs are laid in the soil, mostly in June. Grubs spend the day in the soil, emerging at night to feed at the surface on decaying organic matter. A new tunnel is dug each night to return to the soil.
Control
Control with a variety of common insecticides is very effective for both grubs and adults.
