Cetonidae Collecting in Japan
Oxycetonia jucunda on bushes
Last year I got the chance to visit a friend in Osaka who was studying there. Sadly I only had about ten days, but they were well spent. I flew to Osaka in the beginning of august, which was already a bit late for beetles, but managed to collect some Oxycetonia jucunda and Protaetia orientalis. They were sitting on bushes and drinking tree sap. It is very easy to collect them, when they are drinking, as they are really concentrated on what they are doing, so one can just pick them up and they won’t fly away. Usually I collected them at night time, as this was the time when they were the least active. It was a bit more difficult to collect them in the daytime, when they were a bit more aware and flew away quickly when disturbed. Protaetia orientalis seemed to be a common species, as I saw them often on flowers. At night, I managed to catch some Rutelinidae, like Anomala spec., but these were attracted to lights and I could not find them on the hedge that was growing around my friend´s garden.
Protaetia orientalis, mating pair
I brought both species back home. Protaetia orientalis is a very easy to breed species, I managed to get many larvae without any problems. Sadly, the more interesting species, Oxycetonia jucunda turned out to be not breedable: I did not manage to get any eggs or larvae, although the imagines lived quite long. I attached some pictures of these species that were found outside in the garden of my friends home. I wish it would be always that easy to collect beetles (especially in Malaysia...)
Copyright © B.Harink
Stand: 06. November 2007.
