Texas Beetle Information

Return to Texas Entomology - Compiled by Mike Quinn


Texas Flower Scarab

Trichiotinus texanus (Horn, 1876)

Family Scarabaeidae, Subfamily Cetoniinae, Tribe Trichiini


cf. T. piger

Texas Flower Scarab - Trichiotinus texanus

(Feeding on Opuntia pollen)

Aransas NWR, Aransas County, Texas
May 7, 2008 (M Quinn)


Texas County Records for Trichiotinus texanus

County Record Data from E.G. Riley, Dec. 2005

Plus Aransas County


Range: Kansas to Texas, Mexico.

Flight Period: Nearly all of the 206 specimens in the Texas A&M University Insect Collection were collected in April or May.

Biology: Adults eat the pollen of many species of flowers including cactus flowers. 

Similar Species: Eight species of Trichiotinus are found throughout the United States (except the far west) and southern Canada. (Arnett, et al. 2002).

Texas species:

Trichiotinus lunulatus (Fabricius) - East Texas
Trichiotinus piger (Fabricius) - Northeastern Texas
Trichiotinus texanus (Horn) - See map


Bibliography:

Arnett, R.H., Jr., M.C. Thomas, P.E. Skelley & J.H. Frank. (editors). 2002. American Beetles. Volume 2. Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL. xiv + 861 pp.

Hoffmann, C.H. 1935. The biology and taxonomy of the genus Trichiotinus (Scarabaeidae; Coleoptera). Entomologica Americana 15: l33 -214.

Howden, H.F. 1968. A review of the Trichiinae of North and Central America (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). Memoires of the Entomological Society of Canada. 54: 1-77.

Riley, E.G. & C.S. Wolfe. 2003. An annotated checklist of the Scarabaeoidea of Texas. Southwestern Entomologist, Supplement, no. 26. 37 pp.

Ritcher, P.O. 1966. White Grubs and Their Allies. A Study of North American Scarabaeoid Larvae. Oregon State University Press, Corvallis. 219 pp.


09 Dec 2008  © Mike Quinn / Texas Entomology / Texas Beetle Information