A beautiful find

Yesterday I came across the most beautiful beetle I have ever seen. It was lying in the playground, and looked in danger of being squished into oblivion by trampling feet, so I rescued it, but it has since died.
A bit of research later I discovered in was a large green scarab and in the whole of my life I have never seen one of these before. It was almost an inch long and had a few eggs stuck on its behind and was the most glorious rich emerald green. I also found they are a favourite food of morepork, and that kiwi, dine on the grubs. I have not found as yet whether or not the beetles feed. Armed with some information I set off to the new entrant classes, and we had a good talk about this and other lovely beetles, like the ladybird. The kids were very excited about it. Here's a picture of it. .

www.landcareresearch.co.nz/research/bios...etails.asp?Bu_Id=109

My daughter particularly likes these after finding quite a few of them at a lake near The Chateau and Turangi area. She actually found another one recently closer to home and kept it for a day or two but it was either old or injured so didn't last long. Unusual, but very pretty, I am really not keen on insects. Much nicer than cockroaches!!

Interesting as I have found two of these in the past month - the bright green one. So which ones eat pasture and which don't? Not too keen if it is this one that is what I always thought was the bad guy - grass grub. Never seen them before in 22 years here. Anyone know?

Grass grubs turn into brown beetles that buzz around at night. They're a kind of fuzzy, like really fine flocking.

Yakut

Looks like a Manuka beetle. Quite common here, probably because we have lots of Manuka! Yes, very attractive. Native.

DiDi;357167 wrote: Interesting as I have found two of these in the past month - the bright green one. So which ones eat pasture and which don't? Not too keen if it is this one that is what I always thought was the bad guy - grass grub. Never seen them before in 22 years here. Anyone know?

Didi, if you look again at the beetles on that link I provided, you'll see the black shiny one at the top of the page. We have those ones predominantly in our lawn and I have dug up those creamy little critters in the grub picture, so I can only assume that those are one of the pasture damaging grass grubs. Have also seen the brownish furry one, but not in abundance.

Perhaps I need some kiwis. I could trade some of my chooks for them!!!

The manuka beetle on the other hand, in my research anyway, grows to 3/8 of an inch, whereas the green scarab, grows to 7/8, so while they look very similar, they are very different in size.

Thanks Stikkibeek, I was looking for that identification a couple of weeks ago and didn't think to follow the scarab beetle any further in that site.

Attached files

Could it be a green chafer/shafer beetle?

shad297;357321 wrote: Could it be a green chafer/shafer beetle?

Yes indeed a green chafer, or better known as a Green Cockchafer beetle (Clorochiton longicornis ). It is sometimes the victim of Beauveria bassiana fungus; also known as "Sugar Icing Fungus" which is parasitic and feeds on insects in the bush.

Something about the Manuka version www.puketi.org.nz/kids/manuka-chafer-beetle.html