RE: A FEW WORDS ABOUT ORYCTES NASICORNIS - for the Butterfly Day and Insect Day Giveaway - Week 48
#love it when the comments are as interesting as the original post - and LOVE this rhino beetle! Well, the photos, anyway. Maybe I wouldn't want their larvae feeding in my garden 2-4 years, but if they're eating compost, not all my native flora, they're ok by me. @ryo-6414posted a Japanese beetle here that looks nothing like the invasive, destructive marauder I've been assassinating every summer in the Midwest. I'd be less eager to kill the awesome looking rhino beetle!
The Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica) is a species of scarab beetle.The adult measures 15 mm (0.6 in) in length and 10 mm (0.4 in) in width, has iridescent copper-colored elytra and a green thorax and head. It is not very destructive in Japan, where it is controlled by natural predators, but in North America, it is a noted pest of about 300 species of plants including rose bushes, grapes ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_beetle
Japanese beetle
The Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica) is a species of scarab beetle. The adult measures 15 mm (0.6 in) in length and 10 mm (0.4 in) in width, has iridescent copper-colored elytra and a green thorax and head. It is not very destructive in Japan, where it is controlled by natural predators, but in North America, it is a noted pest of about 300 species of plants including rose bushes, grapes, hops, canna, crape myrtles, birch trees, linden trees, and others.The adult beetles damage plants by skeletonizing the foliage, that is, consuming only the leaf material between the veins, and may also feed on fruit on the plants if present, while the subterranean larvae feed on the roots of grasses.