This beetle is around 1/3 to 1/2 inch long. It is black with 2 pairs of short white stripes on each side of the elytra. The center of the elytra is brownish red in color. It is a very hairy beetle. When flying, they resemble bees in appearance and in sound. This beetle was identified by M.J.Paulsen, an entomologist at the University of Nebraska Museum in Lincoln, NE and a volunteer for Buguide.net
Adults are active flyers around flowers. Larvae feed in decaying stumps, logs or branches of deciduous trees. This species is fairly common on flowers in the eastern U.S. The occurrence in Fontenelle Forest is not known. This picture was taken of the beetle on Virginia Mountain Mint.
A diurnal species that flies well with its wing covers closed. This beetle is in the scarab family and in the subfamily Cetoniinae or flower scarabs.
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