Flower chafer

Flower chafers
Cetonia aurata, the green rose chafer
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Scarabaeidae
Subfamily: Cetoniinae
Leach, 1815

Flower chafers are a group of scarab beetles, comprising the subfamily Cetoniinae. Many species are diurnal and visit flowers for pollen and nectar, or to browse on the petals. Some species also feed on fruit. The group is also called fruit and flower chafers, flower beetles and flower scarabs. There are around 4,000 species, many of them still undescribed.

Overview

By morphological characters, the adults can be separated from the other scarabs by the combination of the following characters: epipleuron easily recognizable, border lateral of elytra sinuate and antennal insertion visible from above. Twelve tribes are normally recognized: Cetoniini, Cremastocheilini, Diplognathini, Goliathini, Gymnetini, Phaedimini, Schizorhinini, Stenotarsiini, Taenioderini, Trichiini, Valgini, and Xiphoscelidini. The tribe Gymnetini is the biggest of the American tribes, and Goliathini contains the largest species, and is mainly found in the rainforest regions of Africa.

Biology

Many species in the tribe Cremastocheilini are known to be predaceous, feeding on hymenopteran larvae or soft-bodied nymphs of Auchenorrhyncha. Spilophorus spp. have been noted feeding on the nesting material and excrement of South African passerine birds,[1] while Spilophorus maculatus has been recorded feeding on Oxyrhachis sp. nymphs[2] and Hoplostomus fuligineus is known to feed on the brood of honey bees in South Africa and the pupae of the wasp Belonogaster petiolata. Campsiura javanica feeds on the larvae of Ropalidia montana in southern India.[3] Cremastocheilus stathamae feeds on ants of the genus Myrmecocystus.[4]

Systematics and taxonomy

The tribes of subfamily Cetoniinae, with some notable genera also listed, are:[5]

Tribus Cetoniini Subtribus Cetoniina Leach, 1815

Subtribus Leucocelina

Tribus Cremastocheilini Burmeister & Schaum, 1841

Tribus Diplognathini

Tribus Goliathini

Mecynorhina ugandensis

Tribus Gymnetini

Tribus Phaedimini

Tribus Schizorhinini

Tribus Stenotarsiini

Tribus Taenioderini

Gnorimella maculosa

Tribus Trichiini Fleming, 1821 Subtribus Cryptodontina

Subtribus Incaina

Subtribus Osmodermatina

Subtribus Platygeniina

Subtribus Trichiina

Tribus Valgini Mulsant, 1842

Tribus Xiphoscelidini

References

  1. ↑ Shipley, A. E.; Marshall, Guy A. K., eds. (1910). The Fauna of British India. London, Calcutta and Bombay: Taylor and Francis. p. 201.
  2. ↑ Ghorpade, K.D. (1975). "A remarkable predacious cetoniid, Spilophorus maculatus (Gory & Percheron), from southern India (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)". The Coleopterists Bulletin 29 (4): 226–230.
  3. ↑ Jeanne, Robert L. & J. H. Hunt (1992). "Beetles (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae) in a social wasp nest (Hymenoptera, Vespidae) in India" (PDF). Entomologist's monthly magazine 128: 139–141.
  4. ↑ Cazier, M.A. & Marjorie Statham (1962). "The behaviour and habits of the myrmecophilous scarab, Cremastocheilus stathamae Cazier, with notes on other species (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae).". J. New York Ent. Soc. 70: 125–149. line feed character in |title= at position 28 (help)
  5. ↑ "Subfamily Cetoniinae Leach, 1815". Retrieved 2010-12-29.

External links

Wikispecies has information related to: Cetoniinae
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