Diet

• Adults: Primarily feed on flowers and foliage. Documented food plants include hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis), Bidens, beans, Pavonia, Heliocarpus, huizache and other plants.

• Adults are frequently found on flowers, where they consume pollen and floral tissues.

• Larvae: Develop in the soil, where they feed on roots and organic material.

Range

• Strigoderma sulcipennis is a shining leaf chafer beetle in the family Scarabaeidae, subfamily Rutelinae, tribe Anomalini.

• It has a remarkably broad distribution, occurring through much of Mexico and Central America, with records extending into South America.

• It is occasionally sighted in Zihua, particularly during the rainy season when adults are active and flowering plants are abundant.

Habitat

• Found in tropical dry forest, tropical deciduous forest, woodland, forest edges, gardens, agricultural areas and other flowering vegetation.

• Around Zihua, look closely at flowers and flowering shrubs, especially after the beginning of the rainy season.

• Adults can also be attracted to lights at night.

• In Guerrero, specimens have been collected on flowers, including cempasúchil (Tagetes erecta).

Size

• Adult length: approximately 11 mm (0.43 in), with a body about 6 mm wide.

• Body compact, oval and strongly convex.

• The dorsal surface is typically reddish-brown to brownish-yellow, with a smooth, shiny appearance.

• The elytra have distinctive longitudinal grooves or impressed lines, an important identification feature.

• The antennae are lamellate, as expected in scarab beetles.