So How Cute ARE June Bugs?

Back in late August, I took a pic of a green bug. Was fortunate that a neighbor was able to ID it for me. Well, he sent me a link that was most helpful. The feature hit went to "June Beetle Time!" (from NCSU). Besides chock full of info and some beautiful images, that site helpfully linked to Bugguide's "Species Cotinis nitida - Green June Beetle" info tab. I was sure glad the Taxonomy tab showed the hierarchy. (When I searched Bugguide.net before finding my neighbor's email, "Family Scarabaeidae - Scarab Beetles" was about as far as I could go before getting really lost.)

It was a little odd that NCSU's article was dated for late July, and my set of three pix are from August. So before talking about its cuteness, we'll address why it's called a June bug. Terminex's "Why are June Bugs Called June Bugs?" explains "June bugs derive their name from the fact that adult June bugs emerge from the soil at the end of spring or the beginning of the summer." The June bug they show looks quite different than the picture I show, probably because of so many species of beetles.

The name "June bug" refers to any of the 100 species of beetles that are related to the scarabs familiar from ancient Egyptian iconography. Other common names for the June bug include "June beetle" and "May beetle." The common June bug is one-half to five-eighths inches long and reddish-brown in color. Being beetles, they also sport shiny wing covers, called elytra.

"What are June Bugs? How Can I Get Rid of June Bugs?" content seems to vacillate between objectiveness and hostility. Helpful info does include short descriptions of what the site lists as the six most common species. (The pix are nice to look at.)

One of the most troublesome bugs – at least for a few weeks each summer – is the so-called June bug. These large and clumsy beetles are attracted to nighttime light, so they can be a pest to any outdoor evening activity you have planned.

"This Month's Bug: The 'June Bug'" has good news and bad news.

June bugs don't bite, sting, or spread disease. The bad news: adult June bugs feed on trees and shrubs, and can cause quite a bit of damage to your landscaping. Even more harmful are the grubs, who live underground and feed on your plant roots, harming plants.

The three previous resources are from pest control companies. They do a reasonable job of describing June bugs and showing pix. They also are ready to help the reader control them. Some informative sites that aren't in the control business:

• "5 things you need to know about June bugs" is light on content, but has humongous gorgeous bug pic.
• "Cute as a June Bug" was dated June 2011, plugging a museum event and cited the expression, but no in-depth analysis. The bug pic was large but not so cute.
• "Cute as a bug?" has much cuter June bugs on a flower, reminding me of emerald color.
• "Green June Beetle Bug" shows a bug tromping through some grasses. You can see jade-like topside and green-foil-like legs and head.
• "THE SHINY GREEN JUNE BUG" shows someone handling the bug so you can see top side (matte) and bottom side (glossy).
• Another June bug expression, which I stumbled on during research: The title says it all:"All Over it like a Duck on a Junebug" "For many Southerners, it’s very picture of eagerness and alacrity:"

June bugs are quite cute in shape and color, especially the underside. Too bad I didn't have the nerve to pick up my specimen for fear of bites or stings. Ignorance on my part. If I see another one in the future, I might muster enough nerve to use a small stick to flip it over and take its pic. After I take the topside pic, natch.

Texas Black Walnut--Lookalike to Deadly Manchineel

During a walk in the neighborhood in June, I spotted a tree with yellowy fruits that resembled miniature grapefruits. I sent out some images requesting help in identifying the plant. Steven Schwartzman ID'ed it as a Texas black walnut. (The site identifies it as "Juglans microcarpa".) He said that botanically speaking that the walnut orbs are the tree’s fruits.

Recently, Yahoo's news feed displayed a fruit with leaves that caught my eye. The fruit strongly resembled the fruit I'd been photographing. When I clicked the link, no such picture showed up. I did find the source article at "The Scary Tropical Tree That Can Kill You", which included the pic. More about this deadly plant farther down.

Note: Images and clips are of only the Texas black walnut that I spotted and captured. For viewing manchineel images, this article has references. Or you can find them by doing online searches.

Texas Black Walnut

My image shows a tiled image, one of two "fruits" next to each other with nearby leaves and a measuring stick, and a more distant shot of a cluster of fruits and leaves. View the video for some motion and spliced-in still images.

The Trees of Texas webpages for Little Walnut (Juglans microcarpa) and Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) contain succinct info, each with images of a tree, nuts, and leaf formations.

Little Walnut (Juglans microcarpa)

11 to 25 leaflets, …. Leaflets are 2" to 3" long, narrow, only 0.5" to 0.75" wide
A small, round nut enclosed in a green leathery husk with no seams measuring 0.5" to 0.75" in diameter.

Black Walnut (Juglans nigra):

15 to 23 leaflets, each 3" to 5" long and 1" to 2" wide, …."
A large, round nut, borne singly or in pairs, 1.5" to 2.5" in diameter, enclosed in a solid green, leathery husk

My own confusion is that the fruit and leaf formations that I photographed seem to have larger fruits but smaller leaves.

"Foraging Texas Black Walnut" has robust information. Images are also more plentiful and detailed, accompanied by descriptions. The distribution is very wide in mostly east to midwest continental United States.

Black walnut leaves are compound with an even number of leaflets and being deciduous, drop off in the fall. … The round nuts of this tree are contained in a thick, green cover which begins to splits [sic] open when ripe. …They are a little larger than golf balls when ripe.

"Tree ID: Black Walnut (Juglans nigra)" has general information about black walnut trees. About 2:10 into the video, the narrator shows some nuts and nearby leaves, providing a good overall image.

Manchineel

The image of a couple of yellowy globular fruit in a Yahoo news feed reminded me of images I'd taken of some "fruits" of a nearby Texas black walnut tree. I became interested enough to Google some resources.

From "The Manchineel Tree":

scientific name is Hippomane Mancinella which literally translates into “The little apple that makes horses mad.” ...The fruit of the tree is greenish yellow and resembles a little apple, is 1 to 2 inches wide.

From "Why manchineel might be Earth's most dangerous tree":

Resembling a small green crabapple about 1 to 2 inches wide, the sweet-smelling fruits can cause hours of agony — and potentially death — with a single bite.

"World's Most Dangerous Tree - The Manchineel" is an informative narrated slide show video. About 35 seconds in, it shows a map of the habitat to be in and around the Caribbean area of North America.

"The TOXIC Manchineel Tree" includes closeup and narration about the fruit that starts at 2:40.

As you might conclude, just about anything to do with manchineel is nothing to fool around with. And don't confuse its fruits with Texas black walnuts.

Comparing Texas Black Walnut with Manchineel

Opening links to images in different window and tiling them side by side makes it easy to compare and contrast texas black walnut to manchineel. Although the fruits might look similar, the leaves are dissimilar in shape and configuration.

At "Foraging Texas Black Walnut", view an image that shows front and back of leaves. View an image that shows Texas black walnut "fruit" and leaves.

At "Stay Away From The World’s Most Dangerous Tree", view the image of manchineel fruit and leaves.