(Redirected from Cetoniinae)
'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. Eight tribes are normally recognized:
Stenotarsiini,
Schizorhinini,
Gymnetini,
Goliathini,
Cetoniini,
Cremastocheilini,
Valgini, and
Trichiini, the last six being 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.
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.
External links
★
Gallery of flower beetles
★
Illustrated key to South Asian chafers
★
Punctate Flower Chafer Factfile