hermit flower beetle

not listed

NNR - Unranked

not listed

Hermit flower beetle is a large, fairy common, scarab beetle that resembles a May beetle or June beetle. It occurs in the eastern United States from Maine and Minnesota south to South Carolina and Kansas and in adjacent Canadian provinces. It is found from May to August in rotten logs and tree holes in woodlands and orchards.

The adult is robust, flat, 13 ⁄16″ to 1¼″ (21 to 32 mm) long, dark brown, and shiny. There is a deep excavation on the head between the eyes.

The exoskeletal plate covering the thorax (pronotum) is covered with deep pits (punctures) and has a deep excavation at the front. The triangular plate between the wing bases (scutellum) usually does not have punctures in the middle and on the sides. The hardened wing covers (elytra) are smooth, not wrinkled. They have rows of fine punctures and scattered smaller punctures, the latter becoming more dense at the sides. The abdomen is densely covered with short brown hairs that poke out from under the elytra.

The larvae are white and large, up to 2 ″ long.

Total length: 13 ⁄16″ to 1¼″ (21 to 32 mm)

Woodlands

July through early September

Hermit flower beetle is active at night and will occasionally come to lights. It hides during the day in a bark crevice near the base of a hardwood tree. When disturbed it exudes a strong leathery odor.

Decaying wood in the trunks and branches of old hardwood trees

Sap of hardwood trees

Sources

24, 27, 29, 30.

Fairly common

The genus name Osmoderma means “smelly skin”. Adults exude a leathery odor when disturbed.

Huge beetle in my living room!!

I am grossed out!!! I sat down in our living room a while ago to brush my cat and saw this huge beetle crawling out from under our coffee table!! So I put her down quickly and took photos, first things first.

Then managed to put a Dixie paper cup over it and slowly slide an index card under the cup, like we often do with some bees/moths to carry them outside where they belong. I was worried that my cat would try to paw it but luckily she paid more attention to me getting the cup etc.

I just can't figure out how this got inside. We have a fireplace and under our living room is a crawl space, but we rarely have bug problems, and they are small if any. Could it really have flown in through the door with us?

I can't recall ever running into one in our 40 years of owning a home and gardening. It is black and bigger than a June bug. I took some photos from under the table and some on our sidewalk after letting it go. Our carpet has a pattern of 3" squares with circles in them. I'm sure glad it didn't try to fly! I'm very afraid of spiders, by the way.

J. Mcgie
7/25/2021

Location: Minneapolis, MN 55418

Location: Maple Grove, MN

I am grossed out!!! I sat down in our living room a while ago to brush my cat and saw this huge beetle crawling out from under our coffee table!! So I put her down quickly and took photos, first things first.

Then managed to put a Dixie paper cup over it and slowly slide an index card under the cup, like we often do with some bees/moths to carry them outside where they belong. I was worried that my cat would try to paw it but luckily she paid more attention to me getting the cup etc.

I just can't figure out how this got inside. We have a fireplace and under our living room is a crawl space, but we rarely have bug problems, and they are small if any. Could it really have flown in through the door with us?

I can't recall ever running into one in our 40 years of owning a home and gardening. It is black and bigger than a June bug. I took some photos from under the table and some on our sidewalk after letting it go. Our carpet has a pattern of 3" squares with circles in them. I'm sure glad it didn't try to fly! I'm very afraid of spiders, by the way.