black beetle – The Gardening Blog

Is it a Stinker or a Lady?

Today I found the most amazing thing … hundreds of these tiny beetle-like bugs just emerging from cocoons and waking up on one of the Nandina domestica shrubs. I was ambling around the garden late this afternoon after a hard days garden “clean up” and looking for blooms to capture for Bloom Day coming up next week, when my eye spotted these baby beetles through the camera.

Although they are visible to the naked eye (they are about 2mm round at the time I saw them), I only spotted them as I was focussing in on the white blossoms on the Nandina as the beetles are still very tiny. I watched one emerge from its cocoon and I took hundreds of photos of it – regrettably not one of them is publishable, so I didn’t manage to get it on film.

I’ve been to Bugguide.net and Whatsthatbug.com and I can’t make out what these are, but I am guessing they are either stink bug nymphs or lady beetles (hopeful!). I googled Stink Bug cocoon and stink bug chrysalis and it seems like Stink Bugs come from eggs, very green eggs. So I’m really not sure what these are. You can click on the photos to see the large versions.

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Can anyone help me identify these cute beetles?

In other news … I found this visitor on the Lynchnis today. This is a stink bug I think. Pretty sure actually. I get lots of these.

[one_half]Bug on the Lynchnis[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Pretty sure its a Stink bug[/one_half_last]

Happy Gardening
xxx

Rhinoceros beetle in the manure

While working with the manure in my rasied bed, I found this!!

[one_half]Oryctes rhinoceros[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Rhinoceros beetle seems fitting![/one_half_last]

I quickly had to do my reseach to identify this solid beetle. Aha!

Oryctes rhinoceros, Rhinoceros beetle is a serious insect of coconut palm. It is also known as Asiatic rhinoceros beetle, black beetle, coconut black beetle, coconut palm rhinoceros beetle, coconut rhinoceros beetle (English), date palm beetle, or dung beetle.

Known to be native to the southern Asiatic region, the coconut rhinoceros beetle was introduced throughout the Pacific primarily as a result of the increased sea traffic during World War II (Nishida & Evenhuis, 2000). The beetle breeds in dead standing coconut palms killed by pest /disease/ lightning, decaying organic materials like compost and sawdust heaps.Transportation of this material could be a pathway of introduction to new areas.

The coconut rhinoceros beetle is one of the most damaging insects to coconut palms and African oil palm in southern and south-east Asia and the Western Pacific islands. The imagos are the destructive stage, they bore into the crown of the palm resulting in wedge shaped or “V” cuts in the fronds that unfurl. The beetle feeds on tissue juices.

Hmmm… not so cute!