Flower chafer
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| Flower chafers | ||||||||||||
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 Punctate Flower Chafer, Polystigma punctatum
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Flower chafers are a group of scarab beetles, subfamily Cetoniinae. Many species are diurnal and visit flowers for pollen and nectar, or to browse on the petals. Some species also take fruit. The group is also called fruit and flower chafers, flower beetles and flower scarabs. There are around 4,000 species, many of them still undescribed.
By morphological characters, the adults can be separated from the other scarabs by the combination of the following characters: epipleuron easily recognizable, border lateral of elytra sinuate and antennal insertion visible from above. Six tribes are normally recognized: Stenotarsiini, Schizorhinini, Gymnetini, Goliathini, Cetoniini, and Cremastocheilini, the last four are also found in the New World. The tribe Gymnetini is the biggest of the American tribes, and Goliathini is only found in southern North America.
The group is in an urgent need of revision. Many of the taxa are poorly defined, based sometimes only in geographical distribution.
[edit] References
- Bartlett, Troy, et al. BugGuide
- Evans, Arthur W. Generic Guide to New World Scarabs
- Orozco, Jesus. American Cetoniinae
- White , Richard E. (1998). Beetles : A Field Guide to the Beetles of North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-91089-7.
 Chondropyga dorsalis, cowboy beetle |
 Chiloloba acuta |
 Male Narycius opalus |
[edit] External links
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