June bugs. May-June beetles. Screen-thumpers. Whatever you call the large, lumbering beetles of the genus Phyllophaga that gather around Maine porch lights this time of year, rarely are they welcome visitors.
That’s something that mystifies Clay Kirby, insect diagnostician with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension.
“I used to play with June bugs as a kid,” he said. “I’d borrow a spool of thread from my mom and tie an end around the leg of a June bug and then fly it around with my thread before letting it safely go — this was in the 1960s and back before we had computer games [and] look, I turned into an entomologist.”
There are several species of Phyllophaga found in Maine, which started emerging at the end of last month.
“These beetles spend most of their life underground,” according to Gary Fish, state horticulturist with the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. “In fact, they are one of the grubs that affects lawns and turf because the feed on the roots of grasses.”
The County is pleased to feature content from our sister company, Bangor Daily News. To read the rest of “June bugs loud but harmless to humans,” an article by contributing Bangor Daily News staff writer Julia Bayly, please follow this link to the BDN online.
