Association of Cetoniinae (Cole?ptera: Scarabaeidae) with Thrincopyge LeConte (Cole?ptera: Buprestidae) in North America

Both Genuchinus ineptus (Horn) and Chlorixanthe propinqua (Gory and Percheron) (Cetoniinae) were collected in decaying sotol (Dasylirion spp., Agavaceae) after the initial rot had been started by invading individuals of Thrincopyge LeConte (Buprestidae). Illustrations of the plants and insect species involved are included. A number of Scarabaeidae are dependent on the work of other insects, and this is not uncommon among the Cetoniinae (Ritcher 1958). For example, the larvae of some species of the Cetoniinae may be predators on ants or bees, live in refuse heaps of ants or termites, or in many types of decaying vegetation ranging from dried elephant dung to piles of fresh grass cuttings (Ritcher 1958; Holm and Marais 1992; Alpert 1994). Larval habits may vary within a genus or even within a species. In North America (including Mexico) some Euphoria Burmeister and Gymnetini larvae live in ant nest rubbish, others in pack rat nests, in refuse chambers of gophers, and many other species are found in a variety of situations involving rotting vegetation (Mico et al. 2000). The Cremastocheilini are equally varied with some species of Cremastocheilus Knoch known to be predatory on ant larvae or pupae (Alpert 1994). Cetoniinae association with groups of insects other than ants or termites is uncommon and I know of only two genera that seem to be associated with Buprestidae in North America. One of these associations was found while