June Beetles and Digger Wasps

     I see small gatherings of green June beetles flying low over our lawn and other lawns during July in southeastern Pennsylvania and digger wasps, often in little groups, sipping nectar from flowers during August and September.  These two kinds of insects have a relationship that most people don't see or know about.  They are part of a food chain.
     Inhabiting sunny, open habitats through much of the eastern United States, adult June beetles emerge from the ground in July in southeastern Pennsylvania.  Almost an inch long, bulky and green on top, these noticeable beetles appear bumbling as they zoom low over the ground, some of them bumping into things such as screen doors and windows.  These attractive beetles sip fruit juices and nectar from flowers, and search for mates.  Females also look for places to lay eggs in the ground. 
     Hatched larvae dig down in the soil, ingest the roots of grass and other plants and winter in the ground.  There they pupate late the next spring and emerge as adults in July ready to reproduce.  
     But many June beetle larvae never mature because they are meals for digger wasp larvae in the ground.  Adult digger wasps are dark, over a half-inch long, with orange abdomens, which make them attractive.        
     Digger wasps are mostly seen sipping nectar on a variety of blossoms on lawns and roadsides, and in hay fields across much of the United States.  Each adult female digger wasp digs into the soil, including on lawns, to find June beetle larvae.  When she finds each of several June beetle young, each female digger wasp paralyzes the prey, digs a chamber around its body and lays an egg on it.  The wasp youngster consumes the beetle larva, overwinters as a pupa in the ground and emerges the next summer ready to mate and lay eggs on June beetle larvae.
     These two types of attractive insects have interesting life histories on our lawns, making those human-made habitats more intriguing.  And these insects are part of a food chain, from sun and rain to plant roots, beetle larvae and digger wasps.  Adults of both these insect species also pollinate a variety of flowers, which I like to see as well.  These are more kinds of life adapted to built environments where we can enjoy their beauties and intrigues.