# Japanese Beetle

*Popillia japonica*

When startled, Japanese beetles will drop straight down from plants instead of flying away, utilizing gravity as a quick escape mechanism.

- **Taxonomy:** Animalia › Arthropoda › Insecta › Coleoptera › Scarabaeidae › Popillia
- **IUCN Red List status:** Least Concern
- **Population trend:** increasing
- **Biome:** urban
- **Habitat:** Suburban gardens, lawns, golf courses, agricultural fields, and deciduous woodland edges.
- **Diet:** Generalist herbivore; adults feed on the leaves, flowers, and fruit of over 300 plant species, while larvae feed on the roots of grasses.
- **Range:** Japan, North America, Europe
- **Size:** 8 to 11 mm (0.3 to 0.4 inches) in length
- **Lifespan:** 1 year
- **Active:** diurnal
- **Threats:** Targeted eradication efforts, pesticides, biological control agents, and extreme winter freezes.
- **Safe to approach?:** Harmless to humans. They do not bite, sting, or carry venom. You can safely observe or handle them. Because they are highly invasive pests in many regions, gardeners often hand-pick them and drop them into soapy water to protect local flora.

## About

The Japanese beetle ( Popillia japonica ) is a common species of beetle. It is about 15 mm (0.6 in) long and 10 mm (0.4 in) wide, with iridescent copper-colored elytra and green thorax and head. It is not very destructive in Japan, where it is controlled by natural predators, but in North America, it is a noted pest of about 200 species of plants including rose bushes, grapes, hops, canna, crape myrtles, birch trees, linden trees, and others.

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/191c24b6-eacb-4fd0-9c4f-e6ff4aa541ee
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/67760
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popillia japonica
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/214480740/medium.jpg (bgirardot, CC0, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.