Wow! It’s been just over a year since I last posted on the blog. Where does the time go? I know that for a good part of last year, I was busy updating and publishing the fourth edition of my guidebook. Now that I’ve finished that, my intention this year is to share one of the many cool plants and animals of Sinai at least once a month. Let’s see how it goes. 🙂

I’m going to start the year off with the Hairy Rose Beetle (Tropinota squalida). I spotted one in my garden last week – a clear indication of our recent warm weather and the winter that hasn’t really come to Dahab yet.

Hairy Rose Beetles are a type of scarab beetle, a member of the Scarabaeidae Family of insects. If you’ve also spotted them in your garden, you probably know that these beetles can be an agricultural pest. That’s because the adult beetles feed on flower buds and all parts of the mature flowers – the pistils, stamens, and petals – making the production of fruit by that flower impossible. These beetles really liked the nimnam plant (Schouwia purpurea) that used to grow in my garden, and I was often alerted to their presence by the debris left behind. (See photo below.)

The beetles, both larvae and adults, live primarily underground and have legs adapted to digging. The adults emerge from the ground to eat and then return to the soil, only to come out again in a few days to continue eating. The larvae feed on roots and rotting plant material, playing an important ecological role in the recycling of decomposing vegetable matter into the soil.

Hairy Rose Beetles are just that – hairy! Their dark brown bodies, 1 – 1 ½ cm long, are covered with thick tawny-colored hair on their elytra and abdomens. (Elytra are the hardened forewings that protect the hindwings that are used in flight.) This hair wears off with age. The elytra are also covered with small yellowish flecks.

These beetles are sun seekers and are typically found in bright, open areas. They are energetic but clumsy fliers. In fact, you can often catch them easily with your hands.

I can’t say for sure if I’ve seen Hairy Rose Beetles in the wadis, but I have spotted other closely-related chafer beetles, like the one pictured below – an Oxythyrea species (maybe O.noemi) feeding on a starthistle (Centaurea scoparia).

Have you seen Hairy Rose Beetles in your garden? Are they pests?