Junebugs

Whether you call them June beetles, Junebugs, or May beetles, these small, reddish-brown, clumsy flyers can be annoying. They get their name because of when they emerge. In some regions, these pests come out in June, while other places get them in May, hence the difference.

Junebug (Brett Hondow) Pixabay

Junebug description

Often confused with masked chafers (right), adult Junebugs tend to be shiny and reddish brown, while masked chafers are a lighter bronze.

Within the Junebug family (Scarabaeidae), there are slight variations:

• Coenonycha testacea - shiny brown, narrow and rectangular; 0.4 inches long
• Serica alternata - shiny brown, robust; 0.4 inches long
• Serica fimbriata - velvety brown with faint wing striations; 0.6 inches long

​Junebug larva are cream colored, C-shaped grubs, found in the soil. Junebug grubs have two parallel rows of bristles. If you find grubs with scattered bristles, you are probably looking at masked chafer grubs.

Masked chafer

​June beetles are not the same thing as June bugs. June beetles are large and green, and they tend to feed on fruit (which is why they are also called fig beetles and dried fruit beetles). Junebugs are something entirely different.

June beetle

Junebug damage

Adult Junebugs feed on leaves. They fly in from weedy areas to feed at night. During the day, they tend to hunker down in a shady spot or burrow into the soil until dusk. The damage they cause is similar to Fuller rose beetles, earwigs, and snails. Grasshoppers and caterpillars may also cause similar damage. The only way to be sure is to catch them in the act.

The more insidious damage occurs underground as Junebug grubs feed on the roots of your lawn, especially ryegrass and bluegrass. Symptoms of infestation include brown, dying patches. If things get really bad, you can actually roll up patches of turf because it is no longer attached to the ground! Large numbers of Junebugs can defoliate a young tree in a matter of days. This is especially true for avocado trees, which may need to be protected with netting.

Controlling Junebugs

Commercial growers use blacklight traps when Junebug infestations cause too much damage. This is not recommended for home growers because the trap may attract more Junebugs than it captures. Heavy infestations are treated with an application of entomopathogenic nematodes. For the most part, home gardeners can’t do anything besides hand pick them whenever they are seen. Junebugs really are clumsy flyers, so it’s not hard to catch them. They are attracted to lights at night and often bump into windows and screens. When I catch them, I feed them to my chickens, who are very happy to help with Junebug control.

If you have children, you can always gift them a butterfly net and offer a bounty on every Junebug they catch!