Family Scarabaeidae - Cotinis nitida (page 1)

Cotinus nitida
Range: southern half of North America
Size: 24 - 28 mm

Cotinis nitida is a very widespread and common cetoniine scarab in the southern United States, where it is popularly known as the "fig beetle" or "fig eater", allegedly due to its fondness for figs as well as other soft fruits such as peaches.

C. nitida is of a greenish hue on its dorsal surface, and bears a very smooth surface layer like that seen on some other cetoniines genera such as Gymnetis and Goliathus. The underside of C. texana is a striking metallic green. The legs are also metallic.

These beetles are very active daytime fliers, and in the summer they can be seen moving at extremely high speeds. They tend to cluster in the shade of large trees for breeding, and deposit their eggs in the ground beneath the leaf litter that collects under such trees.

The larvae of C. nitida are commonly encountered within garden compost heaps. The Americas do not have the large variety of cetoniine scarabs which exist in the old world tropics, and the genus Cotinus contains most of the larger North American cetoniines found north of Mexico. In this photo you can clearly see the brilliant metallic green underside which is characteristic of this species.

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