Last year I saw a few of these large Japanese looking beetles, and this morning they arrived again in big numbers!
The are about three times the size of a Japanese beetle, very powerful flyers that sound like helicopters as they buzz over the ground and around my trees.
Not sure but they seem to be mating around a large Magnolia tree.
Can anyone help me to identify them?
What are they into and is there anything I can do about them?
Thank you for any insights.
John in Central Kentucky
This one that I was able to catch seemed a little smaller than others. Maybe just hatched?
Some are more squarish in shape and seem rather scary as if they appear to be armored and ready to do battle!
Green June Beetle, or as I grew up hearing them called āJune Bugā.
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Thank you! I also grew up hearing them called June Bugs and mostly would think of them as brown beetles that only came out at night and would fly around screens and were attracted by lights at night.
I never saw them buzzing around and so green during the day like this, and why I thought they were some oversized Japanese Beetle.
I see they are into tender berries and fruits, which is bad for me as my blackberries are just ripening and getting sweet.
Is there any good way to deal with them?
John in Kentucky
They are more of a lawn pest; but can bother other plants. They love any soil with a lot of organic matter.
My grandma would give us a roll of her sewing thread to tie to their legsā¦ and we would have fun for hours flying them around on their leashes.
Im not sure modern kids are āallowedā to do such thingsā¦ but for us it was a rite of passageā¦ and we looked forward to it.
It was peak time of ānothing to doāā¦ and it did keep us busy.
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I posted this last July. June Bugs devouring a ripe peach. Once a bird peck breaks the skin, here comes the June Bugs and Jap Beetles. They go for the White peaches especially.

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I am getting the idea. This morning when I went outside it really caught my attention becasue there must have been a couple hundred of them all buzzing around the area right behind my house. Do they all hatch from one place or what?
Was there manure there? That is what the grubs love. Could be mating.
What you are likely referring to are called May Beetles(Phyllophaga genus). Annoyingly, both the Green June Beetles(Cotinis nitida) and the various May Beetles are often referred to as āJune bugsā.
Another candidate for Johnās brown beetles are various prionid beetles.
Beetles emerge from their pupas full adult size; there can be some variation in adult size per species, but not much, certainly not 3X size as stated above.
We are blessed with a smaller type of Dung Beetle/Scarab that endlessly entertain our goats and dogs. We call them tumble bugs; but they have no common name. Mycotrupes lethroides is their scientific name. Poor guys can not even fly.
this is the first year i noticed them, they are all around my garden. i let out my chickens to feed on them, they love snagging them out of the air and eating them, but unfortunately they can eat them all. i would suggest putting down Milky spores this year, because i think they will become grubs that will eat the roots of everything.
apply milky spores to your yard is all i can say, they will become grubs that will feed on root systems, i can imagine what they will do to root crops like potatoes and other root vegetables if they are not mitigated.
I have an interesting update for everyone about my June Bug infestation.
Last spring I saw them all buzzing around, probably mating and then diving into my grass and burrowing in.
I thought, great, this is only going to get worse!
However, I have a skunk coming at night and digging hundreds of mini holes in the ground to dig them up and eat them!
I am sure he or she will miss a few, but it is just incredible how many they have removed!!
John
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I do not want to disappoint you, but I have skunks that dig all over my garden/orchard area and I still have loads of Junebugs every year. Hopefully there is an impact, but you should probably temper your expectations.

This is what we call a june bug in Wisconsin. They are only out for a week or so.
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