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Cetoniinae

Flower chafers
Cetoinedoree.jpg
Cetonia aurata, the green rose chafer
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Scarabaeidae
Subfamily: Cetoniinae
Leach, 1815

Flower chafers are a group of scarab beetles, comprising the subfamily Cetoniinae. Many species are diurnal and visit flowers for pollen and nectar, or to browse on the petals. Some species also feed on fruit. The group is also called fruit and flower chafers, flower beetles and flower scarabs. There are around 4,000 species, many of them still undescribed.

By morphological characters, the adults can be separated from the other scarabs by the combination of the following characters: epipleuron easily recognizable, border lateral of elytra sinuate and antennal insertion visible from above. Twelve tribes are presently recognized: Cetoniini, Cremastocheilini, Diplognathini, Goliathini, Gymnetini, Phaedimini, Schizorhinini, Stenotarsiini, Taenioderini, Trichiini, Valgini, and Xiphoscelidini. The tribe Gymnetini is the biggest of the American tribes, and Goliathini contains the largest species, and is mainly found in the rainforest regions of Africa.

Many species in the tribe Cremastocheilini are known to be predaceous, feeding on hymenopteran larvae or soft-bodied nymphs of Auchenorrhyncha. Spilophorus spp. have been noted feeding on the nesting material and excrement of South African passerine birds, while Spilophorus maculatus has been recorded feeding on Oxyrhachis sp. nymphs and Hoplostomus fuligineus is known to feed on the brood of honey bees in South Africa and the pupae of the wasp Belonogaster petiolata. Campsiura javanica feeds on the larvae of Ropalidia montana in southern India.Cremastocheilus stathamae feeds on ants of the genus Myrmecocystus.


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