Texas Beetle Information

Return to Texas Entomology - Compiled by Mike Quinn

Emerald Euphoria

Euphoria fulgida (Fabricius)

Family Scarabaeidae, Subfamily Cetoniinae, Tribe Cetoniini

Blue (western) form:

Big Bend National Park
Brewster County, Texas
June 2007 (Martin Reid)

along the roadside of the Chisos Basin access road,
roughly the lower-middle part of Green Gulch

Green (eastern) form:

Utley, Bastrop County, Texas
March 28, 2008 (Brush Freeman)

County Records for Euphoria fulgida, blue form:

Data per TIARA Biodiversity Project

Range:

Full species is wide spread but rather uncommon east of the Rocky Mountains, also occurs in Arizona, New Mexico, and Canada (Hayes, 1925).

Flight Period: March to August in Texas per 50 specimens in TAMUIC

Food:

Adults feed on sap exuding from wounds of trees or frequenting plants such as thistles (Hayes, 1925).
Larvae reared on manure (Hayes, 1925).

Similar Species: There are approximately 73 species of Euphoria and about 20 species in the U.S. per Arnett et al. (2002).

Texas Taxa: (per Orozco, 2012)

Euphoria biguttata (Gory and Percheron)
Euphoria casselberryi Robinson - Type locality: Davis Mountains, Jeff Davis Co. (Robinson, 1937).
Euphoria devulsa Horn
Euphoria discicollis (Thomson)
Euphoria fulgida (Fabricius) (= Euphoria fulgida fuscocyanea Casey)
Euphoria herbacea (Olivier)
Euphoria hirtipes Horn
Euphoria inda (Linnaeus)
Euphoria kernii Haldeman
Euphoria schotti LeConte - Type locality is Eagle Pass, Maverick County. (LeConte, 1853).
Euphoria sepulcralis (Fabricius)

Photos: Adult - Adult - Ventral - Ventral - BugGuide.Net

Etymology:

Euphoria fulgida fuscocyanea Casey 1915
Euphoria fulgida fulgida (Fabricius, 1775)

eu (G). Good, well
phor, -a, -e, -i, -o (G). Carry, bear

fulg, -en, -i (L). Flash, gleam
-id (L). A condition of

fusc (L). Dusky, brown
cyan, -e, -i, -o (G). Dark blue

Biography:

Thomas Lincoln Casey (1857 - 1925) - University of Nebraska
Johan Christian Fabricius (1745 - 1808) - University of Nebraska

References:

Arnett, R.H., Jr., M.C. Thomas, P. E. Skelley & J.H. Frank. (editors). 2002. American Beetles, Volume II: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea. CRC Press. 861 pp.

Borror, D.J. 1960. Dictionary of Word Roots and Combining Forms. National Press Books, Palo Alto. v + 134 pp.

Blatchley, W.S. 1910. The Coleoptera of Indiana. Bulletin of the Indiana Department of Geology and Natural Resources 1: 1-1386.

Casey, T. L. 1915. A review of the American species of Rutelinae, Dynastinae, and Cetoniinae. Memoires of the Coleoptera 6: 1-394.

Hayes, W.P. 1925. A comparative study of the life cycle of certain phytophagous scarabaeid beetles. Kansas Agricultural Experimental Station Technical Bulletin, 16:1-146.

Orozco, J. 2012. Monographic revision of the American genus Euphoria Burmeister, 1842 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae). The Coleopterists Society Monographs 11: 1-182.

Ratcliffe B.C. 1991. The scarab beetles of Nebraska. Bulletin of the University of Nebraska State Museum. 12: 1–333.

Riley, E.G. & C.S. Wolfe. 2003. An annotated checklist of the Scarabaeoidea of Texas. Southwestern Entomologist, Supplement, no. 26. 37 pp.

Ritcher, P.O. 1945. North American Cetoniinae with descriptions of their larvae and keys to genera and species (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). Kentucky Agriculture Experiment Station Bulletin 476: 1-39 pp.

Ritcher, P.O. 1966. White Grubs and Their Allies, a Study of North American Scarabaeoid Larvae. Oregon State University Monograph Series No. 4: 1-219.

White, R.E. 1983. A Field Guide to the Beetles of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. xii + 405 pp.