Taxonomy

Domain	Eukarya
Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Arthropoda
Subphylum	Hexapoda
Class	Insecta
Subclass	Pterygota
Infraclass	Neoptera
Order	Coleoptera
Suborder	Polyphaga
Infraorder	Staphyliniformia
Superfamily	Scarabaeoidea
Family	Scarabaeidae
Subfamily	Cetoniinae
Tribe	Gymnetini
Genus	Cotinis

Scientific Name

Cotinis nitida

Scientific Name Synonyms

Cotinis nitidus

Common Name

common green June beetle

Author: Dr. Steve L. Brown, Dr. Will Hudson, University of Georgia

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.

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.

Originally compiled from

Brown, S.L. and W. Hudson. Green June Beetle. University of Georgia.