Tuesday, June 16, 2009

ten-lined June beetle ~ 06/16/09 ~ at home

male ten-lined June beetle
Polyphylla decemlineata
Scarabaeidae

edited 03/25/12 - We found this fellow in the stairway as we were unloading our car from our trip. I haven't seen a June beetle since my Ohio days, although this western species is a bit more dapper, like wearing a pinstripe suit. He hissed when I picked him up. I wished I could have gotten a pic of his antennal clubs separated - they're spectacular!

I'm now eating crow and extensively edited this post with new embedded links in the ID. At the time of this post, I unfairly slammed BugGuide.net for misspelling the scientific name and what I perceived to be other minor errors, when in actuality CalPhotos was the one with some incorrectly spelled "decimlineata". Since 04/18/10 I eased up on my blanket ban of BugGuide.net and now reference it regularly. Additionally, I remembered hissing June beetles from Ohio, but over the course of time I forgot they didn't have lines on the elytra. I'm a bit more humble these days and fully understand how difficult it is to maintain accuracy for any online site.

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