Sun Beetle

General Information

These attractive insects are a very common beetle species that is native to west and central Africa. They are commonly found on Acacia trees and feed on ripe and rotten fruit and wood. As surprisingly good flyers, they can easily evade predators when they are out during the day, warming up in the sun!

These beetles, like all other types of beetle, go through a complete metamorphosis during their life cycle. This means that, like butterflies, they go through a larval stage which looks completely different from the adult beetle. In butterflies the larval stage is called a caterpillar, in beetles the larvae are called grubs. A tiny grub hatches from an egg and feeds on rotting leaves and rotten wood. It continues to feed and grow until it reaches a much larger size and then it pupates, which means it makes a cocoon right around itself, in which it turns into a beetle.