''Oxythyrea funesta'' is a
phytophagous
A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpar ...
beetle
Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...
species belonging to the family
Cetoniidae, subfamily
Cetoniinae
Flower chafers are a group of scarab beetles, comprising the subfamily Cetoniinae. Many species are diurnal and visit flowers for pollen and nectar, or to browse on the petals. Some species also feed on fruit. The group is also called fruit an ...
.
Common name “White spotted rose beetle”.
This beetle is present in most of
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
, in the eastern
Palearctic realm
The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa.
The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...
, and in the
Near East
The ''Near East''; he, המזרח הקרוב; arc, ܕܢܚܐ ܩܪܒ; fa, خاور نزدیک, Xāvar-e nazdik; tr, Yakın Doğu is a geographical term which roughly encompasses a transcontinental region in Western Asia, that was once the hist ...
.
Larvae are up to 30 mm long, they feed on plant roots and can remain until next spring in the soil.
The adults appear early in the spring, they grow up to and can mostly be encountered from May through July. They are considered an insect pest that do not just feed on pollen, but rode the floral organs, especially damaging light in color buds and flowers.
Their colour is black, more or less bronzed. Most of the specimens show six white spots in two longitudinal rows on the pronotum and many others on the elytra. They are completely covered with white pubescence (easily visible in profile). Older specimens usually have no hairs, as they are rubbed off with time.
Subspecies
* ''Oxythyrea funesta'' var. ''consobrina''
Villa
A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...
* ''Oxythyrea funesta'' var. ''deleta''
Mulsant
Scarabeidae - Oxythyrea funesta.JPG,
Oxythyrea funesta.ogv,
White-spotted rose beetles (Oxythyrea funesta) mating.jpg, Mating, Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
File:White-spotted barbary bugs (Oxythyrea funesta) mating Cap Bon.jpg, Mating, Tunisia
)
, image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa
, image_map2 =
, capital = Tunis
, largest_city = capital
, ...
Scarabaeidae - Oxythyrea funesta.JPG, Older specimen
External links
BiolibFauna europaea
Cetoniinae
Beetles of Europe
Beetles described in 1761
Articles containing video clips
Taxa named by Nikolaus Poda von Neuhaus
{{Cetoniinae-stub