Ten LIned June Beetle

Subject:  Unknown bug
Geographic location of the bug:  Lancaster california
Date: 06/28/2021
Time: 11:14 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman:  This bug was found in our front yard tonight.  Its the same size as a june bug, but i have never seen anything like it.
Lancaster is in the high desert.
How you want your letter signed:  Scott

Ten Lined June Beetle

Dear Scott,
This is a “June Bug.”  This is one of Daniel’s favorite summer sightings, a Ten Lined June Beetle, Polyphylla decemlineata.  Daniel first encountered a Ten Lined June Beetle in the eighties hiking in the Angeles Forest.  Then when he began teaching at Art Center in 2002, he would see them attracted to lights at the hillside campus during the summer, but it was not until 2015 that he first encountered one in the Mount Washington offices of What’s That Bug?  Since then there are yearly sightings of multiple individuals.  Your individual is a female.  The male Ten Lined June Beetle has much more According to BugGuide:  “Larvae live in soil.  Adults are attracted to lights at night.”  According to Wiki Bugwood:  “Eggs are laid in soil and larvae of the tenlined June beetle feed on plant roots. They have a wide host range and are known to chew on grasses, perennials, trees and shrubs. (On rare occasion they can cause significant damage to roots of woody plants, with pines being most often injured.) In fall, grubs preparing to overwinter move deeply into the soil, returning near the soil surface with returning warm soil temperatures in spring. In the spring of the third season after eggs are laid pupation is completed and the adults emerge. Although the tenlined June beetle causes little plant injury it is an impressively large, well-marked insect that commonly attracts interest. Furthermore, adults when disturbed can produce an impressive defensive display, hissing loudly by forcefully expelling air from their spiracles. This may also be accompanied by male beetles spreading and fanning out their large clubbed antennae. However, the insects are harmless.”

Ten LIned June Beetle

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