Protaetia (Protaetia) fusca (Herbst, 1790)

Perissinotto, Renzo & Clennell, Lynette, 2021, Census of the fruit and flower chafers (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Cetoniinae) of the Macau SAR, China, ZooKeys 1026, pp. 17-43 : 17

Protaetia (Protaetia) fusca (Herbst, 1790) Fig. 10

Cetonia fusca Herbst, 1790: 257

Distribution.

Occurring widely in the Palearctic Region, especially the Chinese provinces and municipalities of Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Zhenjang, Shanghai, the Hong Kong SAR and the island of Taiwan as well as Japan and India’s Sikkim Province ( Bezděk 2016). Also found in the Oriental, Australian, Afrotropical, and Pacific regions ( Bezděk 2016), particularly across SE Asia, Australia, New Guinea, Madagascar, Mauritius, Hawaii, Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia ( Sakai and Nagai 1998; Krajcik 2011). It has recently been intercepted in Florida and in the Caribbean countries of Bahamas and Barbados ( Woodruff 2006), thus becoming a near-cosmopolitan species.

Material examined.

1♂: Macau, University of East Asia, Jun 1990, ER Easton leg (UMEC) ; 1♂: Coloane , Cheoc Van, 29 Jun 2019, crushed on sidewalk, R Perissinotto & L Clennell (MACT) .

Other Macau records.

Coloane, Hác-Sá, 4 Apr 2019, on flowers of Ligustrum sinense , R Perissinotto; Coloane Village, 17 Jul 2020, on building wall, L Clennell; Coloane, Oscar Farm, on rice stem, 24 Oct 2020, Kit Chang (pers. comm.).

Remarks.

Despite being one of the most worldwide spread cetoniine, this species is extremely scarce in Macau. Adults are active mainly in spring and summer and range in size from approximately 13 to 15 mm TL and from 8 to 9 mm MW. In Macau, they have been observed feeding only on flowers of Ligustrum sinense , but the widely used common name of Asian mango flower beetle for the species indicates a diet with this staple component in its natural habitat. Globally, it has actually shown a very variable diet, including a multitude of flowers, fruits and even bee honey. In Hawaii, where it was first recorded in 1949 ( Maehler 1950), it is regarded as a pest, causing damage to commercially cultivated roses, maize and a wide variety of flowers and fruits. The damage caused has been regarded significant enough to justify the introduction of parasitic wasps from other regions, in an effort to exert biological control over its rapidly expanding population ( Woodruff 2006). The entire life cycle of this species, including egg, 1st-3rd instar larvae and pupa, was comprehensively described and illustrated by Simpson (1990). Larvae are compost feeders and have not been observed to attack roots of healthy plants and thus, unlike their adults, are not regarded as pests ( Simpson 1990).

Figures

Figure 10. Protaetia (Protaetia) fusca (Herbst, 1790): dorsal (left) and side (right) views of typical specimens observed at Coloane on 4 Apr 2019 and 17 Jul 2020, respectively (photographs: Lynette Clennell).