Is the green rose chafer beetle (cetonia aurata) considered an invasive species and/or a pest in Texas? TIA!
Are you sure you aren’t mistaking a Japanese Beetle for it? Japanese beetle - Wikipedia
Those things are a major pest.
I love discussions about word origins.
There is no doubt it is a green rose chafer.
Maybe I should have asked the question differently. I was given something in which the carcass of a GRCB forms part of the design. I don’t like owning things made out of animal parts unless I know the specimen/part was collected ethically.
Wikipedia & Google tell me only that the GRCB is native to Europe but not what its “conservation status” is. I need to know more about the GRCB so I can decide whether to keep the gift or return it (with an explanation as to why).
You mean this fellow? I don’t know about Texas but here in the UK they have been rapidly emerging from my compost heap over the past couple of weeks (until the unseasonably cold and wet weather put a stop to the hatching).
They’re very pretty, and I’m pretty sure they’re not endangered. The adults have a pretty short lifespan, and it’s common to find them dead in summer. I don’t think you have any ethical worries!
@Colophon: Yes. The specimen’s ID has never been in doubt, only the question as to whether it was collected ethically (which, unfortunately, that link can’t answer).
Still need answer fast-ish. Thanks!
Can the person who made the object tell you how/where the insect was collected? Perhaps it was found already dead?
Also, put me down as being insanely curious as to what “something in which the carcass of a GRCB forms part of the design” looks like!
Beetle earrings (ala Moonrise Kingdom) perhaps?
I’m still not sure what you mean by “collected ethically”, and what the beetle’s status as a pest or otherwise has to do with that.
Do you mean that killing the beetle to use it in art (?) is unethical unless the beetle is a pest species, in which case it is OK?
The item in question is a decorative item. At first I thought it was made by a craftsman. After my first post, I discovered it is a mass-produced item. The box in which the item came has no label indicating the seller, manufacturer, country of origin of the object, nor whether the beetle was found dead or killed specifically to make the object. Checking the websites of merchants who sell similar items was not informative.
If the beetle was found dead, I have no qualms about keeping the item. It it was killed in order to include it in the item, then I want to know, did the removal of this animal from its environment have a negative, neutral or positive effect on that environment? If positive or neutral, I’m okay with keeping the item. If negative, then I want to return the item to the giver with an explanation as to why I am uncomfortable keeping it.
The giver is a very nice person who meant well (“I know you like animals, so when I saw this dead bug, I immediately thought of you!”) so I want to deal with this quickly before they do something like give me a snow-leopard-skin coat. :eek: