Wednesday, July 29, 2026

June Beetle

Long-haired June Beetle

I happened to be in the sun room when the condo gardeners were beside our deck. I heard one exclaim at what he had found. He put it on the deck but I couldn't see what it was. I couldn't resist so I went out to see. It was this large (1 inch?) June Beetle, a Long-haired according to iNaturalist. They're also known as watermelon beetles, for obvious reasons It wasn't very lively, and it was missing a leg, but still impressive. It made a half hearted attempt to fly away at one point but barely got its wings out.

Long-haired June Beetle

June Beetles are a kind of scarab beetle, like the Egyptians revered. Dung beetles are also scarabs. Like cicadas, they spend most of their life (several years) as larvae (grubs) underground. Once they emerge as adult beetles they only live a few weeks.

Long-haired June Beetle

I was surprised when I picked it up to reposition it for photography and it hissed at me. Quite a loud hiss. Apparently they squeeze the air from their abdomen (no lungs). It doesn't seem like a hiss would be a very effective defense against predators, but maybe if you're small enough to eat beetles it would throw you off.

This looks like a female due to the smaller antennae. Males have much larger fan shaped antennae that they use to track down females by smell.

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