The bronze beetle is a large green shiny beetle similar to the May beetle.

The bronze beetle does not mean a specific species of insect, but rather a subfamily belonging to the family of lamellar beetles, of which there are more than 4,000 species. Most bronzebacks are inhabitants of the tropics. At least 33 species of these beetles live in Russia. The family includes not only bronze beetles, but also rhinoceros beetles. This family also includes one of the main agricultural pests – the cockchafer.

Types of bronzes

The beetles get their name from the metallic sheen of their shell. But beetles of this subfamily cannot always be identified at first glance. Some have a simple black shell without a hint of metallic sheen. The most recognizable is the golden bronze - the most widespread and numerous species in Eurasia. Some Eurasian species:

golden;
smooth;
smelly;
hairy;
marble;
copper.

Shamil's Bronzewort is a rare species, endemic to inland Dagestan.

Twirly

This family of small-sized water beetles (on average about 6 mm) includes several hundred species, mostly inhabiting tropical waters, but such beetles are also found in the northern regions, in particular in fresh water bodies near the Black Sea coast, in Sweden, Norway, Spain. And a couple of dozen species live in Russia.

Such beetles, like the previous ones, belong to the suborder of carnivores and feed on small aquatic life, not only alive, but also dead. Their way of digesting food is very interesting, because the main processes occur not inside, but outside their body. The spinners inject enzymes into their prey, which dissolves it, and then only suck it up.

The body shape of such creatures is oval, convex; The color is predominantly black and shiny. On the surface of the water they move energetically, quickly, stay in groups, constantly describing circles and dancing in circles without rest, for which the beetles got their name. And only sensing a threat, they dive into the water.

In addition, they can fly, as they are naturally endowed with membranous, well-developed wings. For their tirelessness, these waterfowl insects have been awarded the title of the fastest swimmers among their own kind. The largest species of such organisms are found in East Asia; their representatives can grow to a size of two or more centimeters.

General characteristics of beetles

The body is short. The rear line is almost straight. The transitions from the back to the sides are rounded. The head is small, directed down and forward. This family is called lamellar because of the special structure of the antennae, which, if necessary, the insect unfolds into a fan of plates.

Interesting!
The flight speed of bronze beetles is significantly higher than that of other flying beetles.

This success in bronzebacks is due to the special structure of the elytra: there are small cutouts on the sides between the abdomen and the rigid plate. Through them, insects release translucent brown wings. The elytra remain folded and do not slow down the bronco. Other beetles are forced to open their elytra, which stick out upward and to the sides during flight and greatly interfere with flight.

Circulatory system

Like other arthropods, this insect has an open circulatory system. With the flow of blood in the body cavity, internal organs and tissues receive nutrients. The movement of blood is provided by the heart, which pulsates and drives it to the head end of the body. Its reverse flow is impossible due to the heart valves. When the heart expands, blood enters it from the back of the body. The side openings of the central organ of the circulatory system have valves that prevent the reverse flow of blood. This biological fluid does not participate in the respiratory process.

Coloring

The color of bronzes is very diverse. These beetles are not always beautifully colored. Even within the same species and habitat, the color of bronzes can vary greatly.

On a note!
Sometimes the coloring is formed by special highlights that completely cover the main background. The color can be with or without a metallic sheen.

Bronze beetle
With a metallic sheen, that is, shiny, oily-shiny and matte-shiny:

green with various shades is the most common in the group;
blue;
copper red;
purple;
purple;
bronze;
black with a metallic sheen.

Beetles without a metallic sheen may have the following colors:

black;
brown;
brown;
red in different shades;
green;
yellow;
white with an olive or gray tint.

On a note!
All members of the family have a characteristic feature: light spots, shaped like the edges of scales.

The spots may be:

yellowish;
clay-yellow;
white;
pink.

They are located on the elytra, pronotum, underside of the abdomen and upper part of the hind legs. The spots can be of different sizes and shapes. Sometimes these markings merge, covering most of the beetle's body. Most often this happens on the elytra.

June Khrushchev

This beetle itself is brown in color with a dark tint, and its elytra are pale, pinkish-yellow, shiny. They have small dots and faint longitudinal ribs. The legs and antennae are reddish, with a hint of yellow. The chest, like the abdomen, is densely covered with long fluffy whitish hairs, which form lateral spots in the shape of triangles. Length 14-18 millimeters.

It eats leaves, roots and other parts of poplar, pine, beech, and fruit trees. As well as young shoots of cereals, flowers - especially lilacs, chrysanthemums, dahlias. The larvae sometimes eat their relatives.

Larvae

In sand or loam, as well as under cow dung, to a depth of about 10 centimeters, females lay from 20 to 30 eggs. The larvae, although similar to those of cockchafers, are much shorter - 4-5 millimeters. They have thin legs and elongated claws on their paws. Throughout the summer, they live in soil layers close to the surface and eat plant roots.

June beetle larva

Generation and settlement

The flight of the June beetle lasts from June to August in the evening. There are two opinions regarding its generation. One of them indicates that the development period of the larva is 10 months, others consider it to be two years.

This beetle is very widespread throughout Europe and in the Russian part of Asia. In the north, its range of presence reaches the borders of Finland. It is often found in Crimea and the Caucasus.

Golden bronze

Another official name of the beetle is the common bronze beetle. It is sometimes called the green cockchafer. The name is completely incorrect, since these two species differ not only in color, but also in structure, as well as in the time of summer. If you compare the bronze beetle with the May beetle in the photo, photographing the insects from above and behind, you will see that the May beetle’s abdomen is much longer than the elytra and has a sharp rear tip. The elytra of the May's are ribbed and directed at a greater angle to the ground than those of the Bronze's.

The golden bronze beetle is a small beetle. Among Russian Coleoptera there are significantly larger specimens. But you can’t call her small either. The body length of the golden bronze is 13-23 mm, with a width of 8-12 mm.

Common bronze

On a note!
Golden bronze has many color variations. The only common feature: it is a beetle with a shiny metallic color. You can even find a blue beetle.

Color variations

Main color options:

The upper part of the body is copper-purple with a metallic tint. The lower one is black with a purple sheen.
Black without shine.
A “regular” emerald beetle, but there are no scales on the back, only two spots.
Iridescent beetle. The pronotum and head are emerald green with a golden tint. When lit from the side, the reflection is dark blue. The elytra are green. When illuminated from the side, they appear violet-brown. There are no white spots.
The elytra, pronotum and head are green or golden-green. The beetle is covered with bristles.
On the main background there are large and numerous white spots, which often merge into transverse wavy lines.
The back and legs are golden-red or golden-green. There is a strong copper-red tint.
Dark purple color. There are characteristic white spots on the elytra. There are no spots on the abdomen and pronotum.
The top is copper-red or copper-brown, the bottom is bronze-green. Many spots on the elytra.
The color on top is dark bronze or dark bronze-green. Bottom – black.
The scutellum, pronotum and head are dark copper-red. The elytra are black and green. The lower part is black.
Olive green color without blemishes.
The upper side is dark purple with characteristic spots, the lower side is dark red with a strong purple sheen.
The back is golden-green. May be copper-red.
The upper part is green or golden green, the lower part is green.
The top of the beetle is green, the back of the abdomen is purple-red, and the chest side is purple.
The upperparts are golden-green or copper-red, without spots.
Dark blue back with a green tint. There are white spots on the elytra.
The back is bright blue, the chest is black-blue, blue-green, blue.

Bronzovka color
Bronzovkas are very “democratic” in their coloring. In addition to those listed, there are about a dozen different variations.

On a note!
Another pearlescent green beetle, the mint leaf beetle, is sometimes confused with the bronze beetle. This green bug is 2 times smaller than the bronze bug and has a convex shell shape. It eats the leaves of essential oil plants and causes much more harm than the bronze moth. But the leaf beetle belongs to a different family.

Lifestyle

Golden bronzes are distributed throughout the Eurasian continent. They are not found only in mountains and deserts. Bronzeworts eat flower cores. They have a wide menu and can damage the flowers of cultivated and wild plants. Very often they can be found on roses, where they climb into the very core. But bronzes are not capable of causing serious harm to the garden.

Interesting!
Gardeners do not like these insects, because they believe that the larva of the bronze beetle eats the roots of garden crops. In fact, plants are harmed by the larvae of the cockchafer, which are similar to the offspring of bronze beetles.

Bronzeworts are very light- and heat-loving creatures. They are active during the day in hot sunny weather. On cloudy days, bronzes are apathetic. They sit almost motionless on the cores of flowers and do not try to fly. In rainy and cold weather they hide in shelter:

under rosettes of flowers;
into the litter on the ground;
under the roots of plants.

At night, beetles also descend to the ground.

The similarity between bronze beetles and May brown beetles is summer time. Bronzeworts are heat-loving and their lifespan depends on the climate in the region. In the northern regions, beetles only appear in June, while in the southern regions, the beetles begin in mid-May.

The development period of a beetle from egg to adult can take from several months to a year, depending on when the eggs were laid. If the insect has managed to develop to the adult stage by autumn, the adult overwinters in shelters and wakes up much earlier than the main summer time of this species.

What does the bronze beetle eat?

What makes the bronze beetle different from the cockchafer is its food supply. The cockchafer damages the leaves of bushes and trees. Bronzewort eats the core of flowers. The larva of the May beetle (Khrushchev) feeds on the roots of living plants. Bronzovki - rotting organic matter.

Bronze beetle nutrition

The insect eats flowers of plants from 31 families. The list includes Rosaceae, mulberry, umbelliferae, dogwood, ranunculaceae and many other families.

Larva

All larval stages of lamellar beetles are similar to each other. And the larvae of representatives of this subfamily are also so similar that it is often difficult to understand the types of insects not only from the description, but also from the photo. In order not to remember the signs that distinguish one C-shaped larva from another, gardeners prefer to fight all of them at once. Measures to combat the bronze beetle have not been developed, since it cannot cause serious harm to the crop. The years of these shiny green beetles begin after the fruit trees have bloomed. Flowers can be damaged only by individual individuals that emerge from hibernation earlier than the bulk of the bronzes.

On a note!
Some species of bronzefish in Russia are under state protection.

The larvae of these beetles process organic matter more than earthworms. As a result, the benefits from the larvae are greater than the harm from the imago. And given that three species are protected, it is easier to separate different types of larvae.

The differences between the larvae of the bronze beetle and the May beetle are clearly demonstrated by the table:

Bronzovka	Khrushchev
Eats rotting organic matter	Eats living plant roots
Body covered with stubble	Body smooth
Paws short, non-functional	The paws are long, tenacious, allowing for rapid movement.
Body of the same diameter along the entire length	The body is strongly thickened in the caudal part
The head is small, inconspicuous compared to the diameter of the body	The head is huge compared to the bronze one. The diameter of the head is equal to the diameter of the body
Mandibles are small and weak	Powerful gnawing type mandibles

At home, only those who are not afraid of worms and insects can figure out the larvae. The rest just kill everyone.

On a note!
You can save the future harvest by collecting adult bronzefish by hand.

How to fight with chemicals?

As a rule, gardeners use chemicals to combat chafer larvae. They are effective and help to destroy a large number of pests in a short time. There are several basic medications that will help you get rid of these creatures forever.

"Antikhrushch"

This is one of the most popular insecticides. Its main advantage is that it provides protection not only from beetleworm larvae, but also from pests. It can be used to treat different plants.

So, to protect potatoes you need to use a light solution. For 5-10 liters of water, add 10 ml of the substance. Tubers are sprayed immediately before planting. The prepared solution is enough to treat one hundred square meters of land.

To protect tomatoes and cabbage, a more concentrated solution is used. So, 10 ml of the substance dissolves in 3 liters of water. The rhizomes are also soaked in the resulting mixture before planting. The remaining liquid is diluted in a bucket of water.

Fruit and berry trees must be watered with a mixture consisting of 5 liters of water and 10 ml of the drug. The mixture turns out to be quite effective and helps to quickly defeat the enemy. The tree needs to be watered at the root. Regular trees are processed in the same way. But the solution should be less concentrated.

"Aktara"

This drug is available in granule form. They can be used dry, simply scattered in the garden or added to dug up soil near a tree. But most often the granules are dissolved in water. The solution is used for watering or spraying.

The advantage of this product is that the result of the treatment is noticeable immediately after using the drug. And within a day after its use, all pests on the site die.

"Karbofos"

This quality insecticide is typically used on potatoes. It can be used immediately upon planting. But not if early varieties are planted. The good thing about this product is that it provides plants with comprehensive protection against pests.

"Bazudin"

This product provides long-lasting protection against insects. It is sold in the form of granules. Before use, they must be mixed with sand. This mixture is added to the holes before planting any plants or flowers.

Smooth bronze

Very similar to one of the variants of the golden bronze beetle - the smooth bronze beetle, listed in the Red Book of the Moscow Region. This species prefers old forests and parks where there are many rotten trees.

Smooth bronze

Distributed in Southern Europe. In Russia in the north, the border of the range passes through Kaliningrad, Voronezh, and Samara. In the south - across the border with Ukraine to Orenburg.

This beetle with a green shiny back is larger than its “relative”. Its body length is up to 3 cm. There are no white markings on the elytra and cephalothorax. The elytra have either a golden or copper-red sheen. Legs and underside of body with a bluish tint.

What diet

First you need to figure out what the larvae eat. If the clutch is buried in the soil, the caterpillars feed on the roots of various crops. Most often these are grains, melons and field plants. In the forest belt, the larvae feed on the roots of pine and maple trees, as they contain the maximum amount of nutrients. Adults eat the foliage of many trees and shrubs.

Larvae feed on tree roots

Marble

An analogue of the golden bronze with a green shell decorated with white markings. The marbled fish often has a greenish tint to its shell. The body size is slightly larger: up to 27 mm.

Distributed throughout Eurasia, except for the mountain forests of the Caucasus and Crimea. Prefers lowland forests. Settles on old trees. The species is numerous, but insects are found alone. These beetles are active from June to August in the European part of Russia and from mid-May to mid-August in Ukraine.

The life cycle in warm regions takes 1 year, in northern regions – 2 years. Females lay eggs in old stumps of some tree species.

What are the stages of development

Mating occurs 5–10 days after the pupa transforms into an adult. Females burrow into soft soil to lay eggs. Accordingly, the larvae develop there. 20 - 30 days after hatching they molt. From May to October they are not on the surface layer of soil and remain for the winter.

The larvae have to hide from the cold season twice. There are 3 stages of development in total, at the end pupation occurs over 2 - 4 weeks. Most often, the period begins in May, then the larva rises closer to the surface, that is, it can be at a depth of about 15 cm. Pupation can take up to 2 months, which is why some beetles fly in July. The insect may be called a July insect.

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Smelly

Other names: spotted deer or fetid deer. A small shiny black beetle. Body size up to 13 mm. There are many small white spots on the elytra. The body is covered with white dense bristles. Lives in warm regions, including southern Russia.

An agricultural pest, as the larvae eat plant roots. The adult feeds on pollen. Summer begins in May.

Types of bronzes

The best traditional methods

You can also get rid of the cockchafer using traditional methods.

Manual collection

The easiest and safest is to collect the larvae by hand. Experienced gardeners know that in late spring and summer these pests crawl to the surface of the soil. At this time, you should wait until evening and dig up the soil. After tilling the soil, a large number of larvae will appear on the surface, which can be collected manually and immediately destroyed. Of course, it is impossible to remove all pests in this way. But it is quite possible to significantly reduce their population.

Planting

Another popular method of protecting a site from pests is to plant plants that repel them next to trees or a vegetable garden.

White clover is most often used for this purpose. The fact is that May beetle larvae cannot tolerate nitrogen. And soon after planting, bacteria form on the roots of this plant that can absorb it from the air. Over time, it accumulates in the soil, and the habitat becomes unsuitable for cockchafer larvae. This forces them to actively look for a new place of residence.

Attracting insect enemies

Insectivorous birds and other small animals are natural enemies of cockchafers. Therefore, they do an excellent job of reducing their population. In order to enlist their help, you just need to learn how to attract these creatures to your site. The easiest way to do this is to hang a birdhouse on one of the trees.

Poultry can also help control pests. If you release chickens into an area with dug up soil, they will very quickly collect and destroy the larvae. Moles and hedgehogs help fight larvae.

To destroy larvae in the greenhouse and on the street, you can use various folk remedies. They are great against these pests.

Onion peel. A decoction of dry onion peels is the best way to deal with voracious larvae. To prepare it, the bucket needs to be filled one-third full with husks. Afterwards you need to fill it with warm water. All this should be left for 4-5 days. After the required time has passed, the infusion should be diluted with water in a 1:1 ratio. It should be used for watering plants. This is best done in warm weather.
Garlic. This is another effective solution. To prepare it, you need to take 100 grams of chopped garlic, pour 5 liters of boiling water over it and leave for 4-5 days. After this, the solution also needs to be diluted with water. The proportions are the same as in the case of onion peel infusion.
Potassium permanganate. This drug also repels cockchafer larvae well. To prepare the solution, 5 grams of the product must be dissolved in 1 liter of warm water. The resulting product can be used to process various crops. But most often it is used to protect against potato pests.
Walnut leaves. The collected leaves must be poured with 10 liters of boiling water. The tincture should be left in a dark place for a week. After this, it must be filtered and immediately used for soil treatment.
Sagebrush. This pungent-smelling plant also repels larvae. To prepare the solution, you need to chop 300 grams of fresh wormwood and mix them with 200 grams of wood ash. All this must be poured into 10 liters of boiling water and left for 3 hours. The finished infusion is also used immediately.

To prevent re-infection of the area with cockchafer larvae, you should adhere to the following rules:

when digging up a site for the winter, the soil must be sprinkled with bleach or sprayed with “Whiteness”;
You can also add ground eggshells to the soil in the fall;
to protect strawberry bushes from pests, it is recommended to treat the beds with a light solution of ammonia;
In spring, you should not water the beds with a solution of chicken droppings, as it can attract pests;
the soil must be thoroughly mulched - you can use spruce branches, tree bark or chopped straw for this.

To learn how to get rid of cockchafer larvae, see the following video.

Attract a guest from the Red Book - the copperhead

People are usually wary of being around snakes, but the copperhead is not an ordinary snake. It is harmless to humans, but at the same time it actively hunts rodents such as mice, moles or shrews, and if there is an abundance of insects, it does not disdain them. The copperhead is a very rare and cautious reptile that lives in mixed forests and prefers open and well-warmed clearings. She does not like damp and dark places. To attract copperheads, you need to use thick fabric, pieces of tiles or roofing felt. Placed along the edges of the garden, they heat up and attract the snake, which likes to rest in the sun.

Diseases

The cause of holes is fungal diseases. Most often, strawberry shoots are subject to dendrophomosis, ramulariasis and anthracnose. All three diseases are varieties of a fungal disease, popularly called spotting.

Anthracnose or black spot (lat. Colletotrichum Acutatum Simmonds) is dangerous due to its long incubation period and damage to the entire plant at once. This is due to the fact that fungal spores can easily be carried by the wind to neighboring plantations, infecting more and more new shoots. The first sign of the disease is the appearance of dark tan marks, similar to a burn or ulcer. Over time, the damaged areas dry out, crack and fall out, forming numerous holes in their place. The most favorable environment for the pathogen is considered to be hot and humid weather. In addition to the airborne method, plant infection can occur through infected equipment, seedlings and water.

Brown spot is also common in strawberry plantations. The disease begins with the appearance of poorly visible spots, which quickly acquire a red-brown color and rapidly spread over the surface of the leaf. Over time, the spots acquire a brown tint, dry out and fall out, forming holes. In addition, the spots often grow and merge, resulting in almost complete damage to the leaf blades and their death.

Dendrophomosia (brown spot) is quite similar in symptoms to brown spot, with the only difference being that its spots are often angular in shape. The disease appears in July-August and is often triggered by large amounts of rain. The disease significantly reduces the immunity of plants and makes them most vulnerable to viral and infectious diseases.

White spotting or ramulariasis also has a fungal nature and is characterized by the appearance of white spots with a bright brown border, which dry out and crumble over time. At the beginning of the disease, the spots have a brownish tint and are small in size. Over time, the middle of the spot turns white and crumbles, leaving behind a hole. Fungal spores are highly tenacious and capable of spreading in any weather. However, when watering strawberries with cold water, the likelihood of the disease increasing. The disease can appear at any stage of plant development, including early spring when leaves are just beginning to appear.

Tobacco thrips

Insects feed on sap from plant tissues. Leaves become deformed and fall off.

A brown or yellow pest, 1 mm long. They feed on the lower part of the leaves, laying eggs there. Up to 5 generations of this pest are hatched per season. Insects overwinter in the soil under plants.

Folk remedies

Spraying plants with a soap mixture and dandelion infusion. An infusion of orange peels and a decoction of chamomile are also used. Begin treatment before flowering at intervals of 7 days.

Chemical methods

Preparations for spraying - karate, sharpei, zolon, nurell D.

Sources

https://BeetleStop.ru/olenka-mohnataya/
https://BeetleStop.ru/krestotsvetnaya-bloshka/
https://agronomu.com/bok/1387-sredstva-i-sposoby-borby-s-vreditelyami-zemlyaniki.html
https://belochka77.ru/vrediteli-klubniki-s-foto-i-opisaniem.html
https://frukti-yagodi.ru/kto-gryzyot-listya-klubniki-i-pochemu-oni-v-dyrkax-chto-delat-i-kak-borotsya/
https://www.eda-land.ru/klubnika/vyrashchivanie/listya-v-dyrochku/
https://ksew.info/pochemu-na-listyax-klubniki-poyavlyayutsya-dyrochki/
https://ogorodlegko.ru/jagody/klubnika/42-vrediteli-klubniki-i-borba-s-nimi.html