Texas Beetle Information

Return to Texas Entomology - Compiled by Mike Quinn


Common Flower Scarab

Euphoria kernii Haldeman 1852

Family Scarabaeidae, Subfamily Cetoniinae, Tribe Cetoniini


 

Common Flower Scarab - Euphoria kernii Haldeman

(On pricklypoppy, Argemone)

Wild Connections Butterfly Farm & Nature Center
Austin, Travis County, Texas
May 3, 2006 (larvalbug.com)


Texas County Range Map for Euphoria kernii

Common Flower Scarab - Euphoria kernii Haldeman

County Record Data from E.G. Riley, Apr. 2008


State Records for Euphoria kernii

State Records for Euphoria kernii

State Record Source: (Ratcliffe, 1991)


Description

This species is extremely variable in its color and pattern ranging from all black to nearly all yellow with all stages in between. (Ratcliffe, 1991)

Range: CO, KS, NE, NM, OK, TX; Mexico (Blackwelder, 1944-1957; Ratcliffe, 1991)

Flight Period: April to August per specimens in TAMUIC

Food: 

Larval state unknown. Adults associated with Packrat Middens, Neotoma micropus. (Hardy 1988).
Adults feed on the nectar and pollen of the following genera. (Ratcliffe, 1991) 

Pricklypoppy, Argemone spp., Papaveraceae
Pricklypear, Opuntia spp., Cactaceae
Thistle, Cirsium spp., Asteraceae
Yucca, Yucca , Liliaceae

Behavior: Diurnal and not attracted to lights (Ratcliffe, 1991)

Similar Species: There are approximately 73 species of Euphoria and about 20 species in the U.S. (Arnett et al. 2002).

Texas Taxa:

Euphoria casselberryi Robinson - Type locality: Davis Mountains, Jeff Davis Co. (Robinson, 1937).
Euphoria devulsa Horn 
Euphoria discicollis (Thomson) 
Euphoria fulgida fulgida (Fabricius) 
Euphoria fulgida fuscocyanea Casey 
Euphoria herbacea (Olivier) 
Euphoria hirtipes Horn 
Euphoria inda (Linnaeus) 
Euphoria kernii Haldeman 
Euphoria lineoligera Blanchard 
Euphoria schotti LeConte - Type locality is Eagle Pass, Maverick County. (LeConte, 1853).
Euphoria sepulcralis nitens Casey 
Euphoria sepulcralis sepulcralis (Fabricius) 

Synonym: kerni

Alternate Common Name: Plains Bumble Scarab (Taber & Fleenor, 2003)

EtymologyEuphoria kernii Haldeman 1852

eu (G). Good, well
phor, -a, -e, -i, -o (G). Carry, bear

Biography

Samuel Stehman Haldeman (1812 – 1880) - Wikipedia
Horace Haldeman (1820 – 1883) - Horace R. Burke, Handbook of Texas

Horace Haldeman was one of the first persons to concentrate on collecting insects in Texas. He sent his specimens, mostly beetles, to his entomologist brother, Samuel S. Haldeman, and a noted coleopterist, John L. LeConte, for description.


References:

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

Blackwelder, R.E., 1944-1957. Checklist of the Coleopterous insects of Mexico, Central America, the West Indies, and South America, part 4. Smithsonian Institution US Natural History Museum Bulletin 185, Parts 1-6. 1492 pp.

Borror, D.J. 1960. Dictionary of Word Roots and Combining Forms. National Press Books, Palo Alto. v + 134 pp.

Casey, T. L. 1915. A review of the American species of Rutelinae, Dynastinae, and Cetoniinae. Memoires of the Coleoptera 6: 1-394.

Geiser, S.W., 1948. Naturalists of the Frontier. Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas. 296 pp.

Grant, V., K.A. Grant, & P.D. Hurd. 1979. Pollination of Opuntia lindheimeri and related species. Plant Systematics and Evolution, 132: 313-320.

Hardy, A.R. 1988. Studies in the Euphoriina of the Americas (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). I. Introduction and generic concepts. The Coleopterists Bulletin, 42(1): 1-9. 

Hardy, A.R. 2001. Studies in the Euphoriina of the Americans (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) II. Status of names in Euphoria, types and synonymies, with notes on the South American species. Pan-Pacific Entomologist 77 (3):127-143.

Hayes, W.P. 1925. A comparative study of the life cycle of certain phytophagous scarabaeid beetles. Kansas Agricultural Experimental Station Technical Bulletin, 16:1-146.

Horn, G.H. 1879. Synopsis of the Euphoriae of the United States. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 18: 397-408.

Micó E., A.B.T. Smith, & M.A. Morón. 2000. New larval descriptions for two species of Euphoria Burmeister (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae: Cetoniini: Euphoriina) with a key to the known larvae and a review of the larval biology for species in the genus. Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 93(4): 795–801.

Ratcliffe B.C. 1991. The scarab beetles of Nebraska. Bulletin of the University of Nebraska State Museum. 12: 1–333.

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

Robinson, M. 1937. A new Euphoria from Texas. Entomological News 48: 163.

Schneider, E.L., & D.M. Nichols. 1984. Floral Biology of Argemone aurantiaca (Papaveraceae). Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, 111(1):  1-7.

Taber, S.W. & S.B. Fleenor. 2003. Insects of the Texas Lost Pines. Texas A&M University, College Station. 283 pp.


03 May 2008  © Mike Quinn / mike.quinn@tpwd.state.tx.us / Texas Entomology / Texas Beetle Information