CIRCULAR 317, U.S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



DESCRIPTION OF THE BEETLE 



Figure l.— The Japanese beetle, 

 natural size. 



About 



The Japanese beetle has a very distinctive appearance-. It is a 

 brightly colored insect, broadly oval, and about three eighths inch long. 

 It is a brilliant metallic green except for the greater part of the wing 



covers, which are reddish bronze. 

 On the sides and tip of the ab- 

 domen are 12 tufts of hairs which 

 resemble small white dots (fig. 1). 



NATURE OF THE INJURY 



The Japanese beetle has chew- 

 ing mouth parts. In general, it 

 consumes the tissue between the 

 veins of the leaves and also eats 

 portions of the blossoms and of 

 the fruit. The leaves are skel- 

 etonized wholly or in part (fig. 

 2), and the remnants of these 

 leaves soon turn brown and fall. 

 A partial second crop of leaves 

 may be produced after feeding 

 by the beetle has ceased (fig. 3). 

 The beetle prefers to feed on 

 portions of the plant exposed to 

 the direct rays of the sun. It 

 usually begins to feed on the 



upper and outer portions and works downward and inward (fig. 4). 



When the infestation is severe, even large fruit and shade trees 



may be completely defoliated 



within a few days. 



Of the susceptible fruits, those 



that ripen in the early summer 



are most subject to attack. Very 



little feeding — only a few punc- 

 tures in the skin — is sufficient to 



destroy the market value of the 



fruit, but at times beetles gather 



on ripening apples and peaches in 



such large numbers as to cover the 



fruit completely and ruin it (fig 



5). The riper fruit is attacked 



first by the beetles, and when the 



infestation is relatively light the 



damage may be confined to these 



riper fruits. 



The female beetles lay eggs in 



the soil, and these hatch into 



grubs winch sometimes injure lawns. For suggestions as to the pre- 

 vention of such lawn injury see Department of Agriculture Circular 



238, Control of Larvae of the Japanese and the Asiatic Beetles in 



Lawns and Golf Courses. 



• 



Figure 2.— Grape leaf showing injury by Japanese 

 beetle. 



