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Tribe: Hopliini (monkey beetles)
Life > Eukaryotes > Opisthokonta > Metazoa (animals) > Bilateria > Ecdysozoa > Panarthropoda > Tritocerebra > Arthopoda > Mandibulata > Atelocerata > Panhexapoda > Hexapoda
> Insecta
(insects) > Dicondyla > Pterygota > Metapterygota > Neoptera > Eumetabola >
Holometabola > Coleoptera
(beetles)
> Polyphaga > Superfamily: Scarabaeoidea
> Family: Scarabaeidae > Subfamily:
Rutelinae
Distinguished from other Scarabaeidae by the tarsal claws
which, especially on the hindlegs, are unequally sized and movable. Larvae are
known as white grubs, a term also used for larvae of the subfamily
Melolonthinae. They feed on plant litter and plant roots in the soil, and can be
serious pests of cultivated crops and lawns.
The Hopliini beetles are the most diverse group of rutelines in southern Africa.
Adults are often
brightly coloured and hairy with large powerful hind legs and usually encountered
in flowers.
Some genera and species that occur in southern Africa
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Anisonyx ditus (Glitering
monkey beetle), 9mm.
[image by M. Picker & C.
Griffiths ©, from Field Guide to Insects of South Africa,
used with permission]. |
Scelophysa trimeni (Blue monkey beetle), 9mm.
[image by M. Picker & C.
Griffiths ©, from Field Guide to Insects of South Africa,
used with permission]. |
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Pachycnema marginella (Brown monkey
beetle), 10mm.
[image by M. Picker & C.
Griffiths ©, from Field Guide to Insects of South Africa,
used with permission]. |
Heterochelus chiriagricus (Striped
monkey beetle), 10mm.
[image by M. Picker & C.
Griffiths ©, from Field Guide to Insects of South Africa,
used with permission]. |
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Lepithrix pseudolineata (Spider
monkey beetle), 9mm.
[image by M. Picker & C.
Griffiths ©, from Field Guide to Insects of South Africa,
used with permission]. |
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Page by Margie Cochrane |
