These large attractive beetles are commonly referred to as Flower beetles or Giant African Fruit beetles. Although they appear similar to rhinoceros beetles, they are in closely related family Cetonidae, the flower chafers.

A close-to-home relative you may encounter is our familiar June Bug or the Japanese Chafer Beetle which is considered a garden pest. All these beetles belong the huge family of Scaraboidea, collectively known as the scarabs.

There are around 4,000 species of flower chafer beetles worldwide. In most species, the males have some sort of projection coming off their head which they use aggressively towards each other when fighting for a mate.

Flower chafer beetles commonly feed on rotting wood as a larvae, but will eat pollen and nectar of flowers as an adult. At the Conservatory, the adult beetles feed on rotten bananas.