Monkey beetles are

scarab beetles The family Scarabaeidae, as currently defined, consists of over 30,000 species of beetles worldwide; they are often called scarabs or scarab beetles. The classification of this family has undergone significant change in recent years. Several sub ...

, a group of several genera within the tribe Hopliini. The placement of this tribe within the family

Scarabaeidae The family Scarabaeidae, as currently defined, consists of over 30,000 species of beetles worldwide; they are often called scarabs or scarab beetles. The classification of this family has undergone significant change in recent years. Several sub ...

is uncertain between

Melolonthinae Melolonthinae is a subfamily of the scarab beetles (family Scarabaeidae). It is a very diverse group; distributed over most of the world, it contains over 11,000 species in over 750 genera. Some authors include the scarab subfamilies Euchirinae ...

and

Rutelinae Rutelinae or shining leaf chafers is a subfamily of the scarab beetles (family Scarabaeidae). It is a very diverse group; distributed over most of the world, it contains some 200 genera with over 4,000 described species in 7 tribes. A few recent ...

. Many species visit

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s for

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by seed plants. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametophyt ...

and

nectar Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries or nectarines, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists ...

, or browse on the petals. The beetles are important pollinators of

Aizoaceae The Aizoaceae, or fig-marigold family, is a large family of dicotyledonous flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is d ...

and

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

in grazed and ungrazed areas, as well as many others. They tend to favor flowers of white, yellow, pink, orange, and blue pigments. They also tend to favor flowers of symmetrical, abstract patterns Shelley A Johnson, Susan W Nicolson, Pollen digestion by flower-feeding Scarabaeidae: protea beetles (Cetoniini) and monkey beetles (Hopliini), Journal of Insect Physiology, Volume 47, Issue 7, 2001, Pages 725-733, ISSN 0022-1910, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022 1910(00)00166-9. Due to their pollination patterns, many plants were able to develop special features that attracted monkey beetles, such as the Iridaceae which now have bright colors and symmetrical, unique patterns.

References

Scarabaeidae {{Scarabaeidae-stub