Asian Flower Beetle

[imafan26]

Today I caught and Asian Flower Beetle on my corn. I had some holes in the leaves that I thought were Chinese rose beetles but could have been the work of this critter.

Asian flower beetles have been around awhile, but for the most part they prefer to go after overripe fruit. They are particularly fond of papaya. They will also infest corn, mango blossoms, and some trees. When they congregate on papaya trees and eat the fruit they get pretty gluttonous and slow. It is relatively easy to scrape them into a ziploc bad, seal and leave the bag in the sun. After that all I have is crispy beetles and toss them in the trash or if I am really into recycling I will bury them back in the garden sans plastic bag.

There are predatory wasps that were released by the Dept of Ag and the beetles are relatively rare sights except with the overripe fruit so while they have the UGGHHH factor, it could be worse.

https://journals.fcla.edu/mundi/article/view/25091/24422