I am going to guess it is not a JB. JB have copper/bronze wing covers your critter appears to have green wing covers.

I don't think that it is a JB. ...too big and green with too big of wings........unless they grow a lot bigger in Texas.!

I wonder what was eating your neighbor's grape leaves as JBs like grape leaves, plum leaves, and ripe peaches and plums.

Looks like what I remember - havn't seen one now in about seven or eight years. Praise be. They are about the size of CPB's.

Thanks folks, I hope that you are right. These things are about the size of June Bugs, Tumble Bugs or Dung Beetles and are quite a bit bigger than the Colorado Potato Beetles that I have seen. I found one a bit smaller and took a picture in the fading light with the flash and it does not look so green. Of course that first one had spent the night and half day in a cup of water and that may have had something to do with the color. One thing that I do not see is the five spots of white tufts of hair along each side on these.

A sudden heavy downpour of over an inch of rain late yesterday caused a lot more of the bigger, ripening figs to split open and some are souring. That is a magnet for ants and insects and I am trying to keep them picked off. Here is the latest picture.
Bill P.
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Bill
The smaller one in the picture above, on the left does look like a japanese beetle, thats how they are here in NY. I've been picking them off my roses and squashing them right in my fingers, thats how much I despise them.
Alberta

hard to tell from the pic, but I am certain the one on the left is not a JB, the one on the right might be, but I am something far less than certain.

A JB would easily fit on a dime so if what you are seeing is larger (longer) than that it's unlikely to be JB unless, as Wayne says, you Texans grow them bigger than the rest of us! ;-)

I don't believe it is Bill, the following is a photo of the Japanese Beetle:

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I believe what you have is known as the "Green June Bug/Beetle" (Cotinis nitida) which is different than and often confused with the May Beetle.

Thanks, this is encouraging. I took the flashlight and went out and dropped a dime on the bug. Well, actually laid the dime beside the smaller one and the dime is smaller than the bug is long, so that is some encouraging, and thanks Violet, the picture you posted is a little different that the ones that I found. Mine does not have those white spots along the sides so I am definitely encouraged.
Bill P.

I surely do appreciate everyone's help and reassurances. I think that this is the culprit and if so, it does not look like it will be too hard to control or eradicate them.

Man, as old as I am and to never have run across these things before. I really am relieved. After seeing what the Squash Vine Borer did after their arrival here a few years back, I sure did not want another pest as destructive.
Bill P.

Bill, you are SO lucky that those aren't JB's. Good luck with the rest of your fig harvest!

When I lived in southern California a few years ago I had a fig tree, and every year these huge beetles that sounded like helicopters would decimate the ripe figs. I also had citrus, plums, bananas and loquats, but it was the figs they went after, and they were voracious.

We have lots of them here in Tahlequah, as well as Japanese Beetles. Don't have figs either. They have been clinging to my corn and even the tomatoes, but with little noticeable damage. I hand pick them (have to grab them by the sides because otherwise they prick your fingers) and crunch them just enough so they cannot fly. I keep a coffee can with me while in the garden to collect them, and then I drop them all in with my Indian Runner ducks. The ducks eat them as if they were potato chips. Also, these beetles hover around our lawn (where I'm sure they lay eggs) and our chickens have a blast chasing and catching them. Their larvae are white grubs and they make a mud capsule to mature into beetles. They are loud and a nuisance, but I can't say they've done much harm.

George

Hey Bill
Wow I really thought that was a JB, and I meant to say on the right hand side of the picture, guess I was having a senior moment, LOL

Now since I've never grown figs, I would have never known the difference between a fig bug and a JB. Are they as destructive as the jb's?
Alberta

Thanks Ediej, I think that I am lucky too.

Wow Lelia, I have only had the three thus far and am trying to keep the riper ones picked off the tree. I think that is what they like, the riper ones.

George, I did not know that the JB was that far south already. Man, I hope that your ducks keep them from spreading.

I knew which one you meant Alberta. No, I do not think that they eat leaves and any thing other than the fruit, but of course, I am just getting acquainted with them.

Thanks for everyone's help.
Bill P.

The first photo is not a Japanese Beetle. I have both the JB and the bug you photographed visiting my gardens this year.
Sometimes both bugs have found themselves drowning in the same bowl of dishsoap water together>:-) Not that I derived any kind of pleasure from their slow demise mind you!

Even your second photo has me doubting the smaller beetle is a JB. Trust me, if you get the bug you photographed and a Japanese Beetle side by side, you would never mistake one for the other.

we have them in my neck of the woods every year they show up around june and leave early to mid august.the only names i've ever heard them called is june bugs or july flys.when i was growing up we use to catch them and tie a piece of thread around there leg and attach a small piece of paper to the other end they would carry that paper up high in the air'sorta like watching a hot air ballon rise.

james

Fishin-

Send one to a local university bug person. They'll ID it for you and let you know what you have. I had the same problem earlier this year with Rose Chafers. I just emailed a pic to a guy at the University of WI and he got back to me the next day! Talk about service!