We have these very colorful metallic green scarab beetles around the garden. At this time of year (late summer and fall) they are easy to spot flying around the garden. Their bright green color makes them stand out, and they are big enough to be noticed.
They really like the compost pile for a source of tasty food, particularly for the young larvae, called grubs. Here is a short video showing one of the youngsters who was uncovered when turning the compost pile. It quickly dug back into the pile.
I can imagine these nice fat larvae would be a juicy treat for our possum that comes around many nights and digs in the garden, probably looking for these juicy midnight snacks.
Yesterday I was adding some compost to a garden bed to get ready for planting and one of these beetles landed in the dirt and within 15 seconds had dug under the ground and disappeared. Today, I was turning the soil in that bed and found a dead beetle. They are so colorful I thought I’d try to get a photo of it. As I was carrying it, suddenly it opened it’s wings and took off! Guess it was just getting a nap.
I decided to do a little research on these critters and found some interesting info. They are a type of scarab beetle. The Egyptians held scarabs in high regard. The ones in Egypt are dung beetles that collect dung and roll it into balls that they push around then dig a hole and push the ball into the hole, where they proceed to dine for a few days.
The Eqyptians related the scarabs rolling the dung ball to their scarab faced god Khepri who was responsible for rolling the sun across the sky.
The scarabs in our garden are called Fig Beetles or Green Fruit Beetles, scientific name Cotinis mutabilis. They are closely related to June Bugs and are about the same size with a length of 1.2 inches (3.2 cm).
As you might guess from the name they do eat figs and other soft sweet fruit. They prefer their fruit nice and ripe, preferably a bit rotten. They don’t have the ability bite through the skin of firmer fruit. Birds or other animals that have taken a bite of fruit can help these beetles get lunch.
They are a native of the Southwestern US and Mexico. Deserts were their home where they dined on juicy cactus. With the arrival of more agricultural production of fruits including backyard gardens like ours, they have increased in numbers and expanded their range to areas like our garden.
Not really much of a pest in the garden, since we get the figs before they are ripe enough for these guys to munch on. These beetles are some of the workers in the garden who recycle the old rotting materials, so they are helpful in that regard. They are the garden clean up and recycling crew.
For more information, there is a nice post on the LA Natural History Museum website.
Zanganeh Garden 