Temporal and Spatial Distribution of the Oriental Beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in a Golf Course Environment

The mating season of the oriental beetle, Exomala orientalis (Waterhouse), in 1994 and 1995 at Bethpage State Park, Farmingdale, NY (40° 45′ N, 73° 28′ W) began in the middle of June, peaked in the 1st wk of July, and ended in the middle of August. There were differences in the emergence schedule among fairways as well as local differences between roughs and fairway. Both sexes were most active around sunset on shorter-cut turf (i.e., fairways, greens, and tees, versus roughs), and the few individuals seen during the daylight hours were mostly males. These males were generally found perched on vegetation at the border of the fairway. Feeding was not observed, except on flowers by females devoid of mature eggs. This study confirms our observations on the pattern of activity in an earlier study conducted with the use of synthetic pheromone traps. It also explains the difficulty encountered by earlier workers in finding adults of this insect in the field. Implications of the above findings on the management of the oriental beetle are discusse