Guide to identifying the Japanese Beetle

Mesa County has declared the Japanese Beetle a public nuisance and needs help from the community to ensure the local agriculture economy is not affected by the damaging pest. Here’s what to look for when identifying a Japanese Beetle. 

Adult Japanese Beetle

• Has an oval form
• About 7/16-inch in length
• Generally metallic green with coppery-brown wing covers, which don’t quite cover the tip of the abdomen. 
• Along the sides are five patches of whitish hairs. 
• The antennae are clubbed at the end and may spread to a fan-like form.

Japanese Beetle Larvae (a type of white grub that feeds on the roots of grasses)

• They have a creamy white body with a dark head and well-developed legs.
• Usually, the body curves into a “C-shape.”
• They are best distinguished from other white grubs by closely examining the pattern of hairs on the hind end of the abdomen, which forms a distinctive V-shape.

If you find what you think is a Japanese Beetle, you can get ahold of CSU Extension Services, 2775 Highway 50, and send them a picture or take it in for identification.

Photograph courtesy of David Shetlar, the Ohio State University.