I have swarms of the strangest beetles around here (or I think they're beetles, although see below) and I'm hoping somebody can help me ID them.

They definitely aren't a June beetle.

* Quite large, a very pale green, almost a chartreuse (but tilted more toward the green side). The size of a fat bumblebee or bigger. Not glossy.

* Long proboscis in front, body shaped sort of like a large triangle.

* Extraordinarily poor flier. Stepping into their flight path gets you hit, but they bounce and fly off.

* Noisy flier. I thought it was a small hummingbird at first.

* Seem to be nesting in my pear tree, or at least that's where they're hanging out during the day.

* Visits flowers, particularly my Salvia farinacea (Mealy Cup Sage, Rhea salvia). Also seen feeding at the sunflowers, zinnia, and marigolds.

* Causes no visible damage.

Sounded like a hummingbird, we've had them in our impatients every year about this time. I thought at first it was a hornet or bee etc. slow moving.

Are you certain that "beetle" is the best description? Everything else you're describing sounds more like Katydids than beetles. Katydids are more related to crickets than beetles.

The wings on Katydids are noisy, could be. The ones I've seen have a long snout and feed like a hummingbird going flower to flower. The triangle shape is the only question so your probably right Andy.

Katydids are noisy, lousy fliers. My wife has all kinds of stuff to attract hummingbirds to our property, and hummingbirds are brilliant in flight - amazing.

Since they won't sit still long enough for me to get a good ID, they could be katydids. Although they don't seem to make the characteristic noise and the color seems a little too dark on the photos I'm seeing.

They're definitely not hummingbirds, there are too many, they don't hover, the wing sound is wrong, and the color is wrong. The only hummingbird native to this area is the Ruby Throated, and I've got a few females (and I think one male).

I'm not much help. The first thing I thought when I saw the subject is that Beetle is the one with the hat covering his eyes (even after Sarge beats him to a pulp).

bpgreen wrote:I'm not much help. The first thing I thought when I saw the subject is that Beetle is the one with the hat covering his eyes (even after Sarge beats him to a pulp).

Hey, at least you didn't suggest that it was a small German automobile.

Given my knowledge of beetles, that would have been my first guess...

Hey, I figure for once I won't go off topic into that one.