Japanese beetle: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the Japanese beetle lives – recorded in 7 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Popillia japonica
Group	Beetles
Found in	7 countries
Continents	Asia, Europe, North America
Class	Insect
Order	Coleoptera
Family	Scarabaeidae

Where does the Japanese beetle live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the Japanese beetle in 7 countries and territories across Asia, Europe and North America. In Switzerland, Italy it is listed as introduced (GRIIS checklists via GBIF).

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

What kind of animal is the Japanese beetle?

The Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica) is an insect in the order Coleoptera and the family Scarabaeidae, genus Popillia. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the Japanese beetle

The Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica) is a species of scarab beetle. Due to the presence of natural predators, the Japanese beetle is not considered a pest in its native Japan. In North America and some regions of Europe, it is a noted pest to roughly 300 species of plants. Some of these plants include roses, grapes, hops, canna, crape myrtles, birch trees, linden trees, and others.

The adult beetles damage plants by skeletonizing the foliage (i.e., consuming only the material between a leaf's veins), as well as, at times, feeding on a plant's fruit. The subterranean larvae feed on the roots of grasses.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Japanese beetle (revision 1380005210), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q1683382 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).