CONTROLLING GREEN JUNE BEETLE 
LARVAE IN TOBACCO PLANT BEDS 
Larvae (grubs) of the green June 
beetle * are serious pests of tobacco plant 
beds in Virginia, North Carolina, South 
Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and Ken- 
tucky ; they cause some damage in several 
other tobacco-growing States. 
The larvae tunnel through soil in 
search of food. They uproot many 
plants and feed on the rootlets of seed- 
lings. 
When the larvae occur in large num- 
bers, they will seriously damage tobacco 
plant beds unless they are controlled by 
insecticides or soil fumigants. 
DEVELOPMENT 
AND HABITS 
The green June beetle develops in four 
stages—egg, larva, pupa, and adult. 
Female beetles lay eggs in tobacco 
plant beds during summer months. 
Eggs are gray or dull white, oval to 
spherical, and measure 14, to Y inch in 
*Cotinis nitida. 
=~ 
“SS 
BN-13690 
Adult of the green June beetle. 
diameter. Each egg is enclosed in a 
small ball of dirt. A female may lay as 
many as 15 or 20 eggs close together. 
They hatch into larvae in a few days. 
BN-13689-X 
Eggs of the green June beetle. 
Newly hatched larvae are about 4 
inch long, and creamy white. The head 
is yellowish white, and later becomes 
dark brown at its widest part. Young 
larvae grow rapidly, and shed their skins 
twice during the summer. They become 
about two-thirds grown by the end of 
September or first part of October, and 
complete their growth the following 
spring. Fully grown larvae are about 2 
inches long and 1/4, inch wide. 
Larvae of the green June beetle have 
the unusual habit of crawling on their 
backs, which makes them easy to 
identify. 
When fully grown, larvae change into 
pupae in the soil, in oval cocoons or cells 
