Rose Chafers Busy Eating & Being Eaten
All of a sudden we are besieged by Rose Chafers, those tan beetles that feed on roses and peonies, as well as the foliage of many trees, shrubs and other plants. The reason for their sudden appearance has to do with their life cycle.
Adult Rose Chafers emerge from the ground in late May and early June. (Because the Rose Chafer prefers sandy soil to lay eggs, plants located on sandy sites are most likely to be attacked.) Adult beetles feed on plants for three or four weeks, generally until late June when they mate, lay eggs in the soil and then die shortly afterwards. Two to three weeks later, the eggs hatch into small, white grub‑like larvae which feed on the roots of grasses and weeds. The larvae spend the winter in the soil below the frost line before pupating and emerging as adults in the spring.
Rose Chafers contain a toxin that can be deadly to birds, but apparently not to crab spiders, at least the one that was photographed drinking the innards of a Rose Chafer it had caught. As testimony to their drive to reproduce, a Rose Chafer, minutes after this picture was taken, mounted and attempted to mate with the Rose Chafer that was being consumed by the crab spider.
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