Monkey beetles
Hopliini
Beetle
Monkey beetles are a tribe of scarab beetles (Hopliini) of over a thousand described species, the great majority endemic to southern Africa with their greatest diversity in the Greater Cape Floristic Region and Succulent Karoo. Adults feed on pollen, nectar, and floral tissue of open, bowl-shaped flowers - especially in the daisy (Asteraceae), vygie (Aizoaceae), and iris (Iridaceae) families - and use those flowers as mating rendezvous sites, which makes them among the most important pollinators in the Cape. Larvae are soil-dwelling white grubs that feed on organic matter. Garden plantings of Cape daisies with open, dark-centred flowerheads - such as treasure flowers, African daisies, and Barberton daisies - offer the open-bowl flowers this group depends on in its native range.
Plants in the catalog
Plants this species pollinates · 1
Hopliini are documented primary pollen vectors of Gazania, treating the dark-centred flowerheads as mating-rendezvous sites.
Pollen plants · 2
Range
Greatest diversity in South Africa's Greater Cape Floristic Region and Succulent Karoo, with around 1,000 described species; the tribe also occurs in Madagascar, the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, the Mediterranean basin, and Asia, but the great majority of South African species are national endemics.
Sources & citations
Cite this page
Use this citation for the Plotwright wildlife record. Use the source cards below to explore the references that informed its taxonomy, range, conservation, host plants, foraging, and habitat.
Plotwright. (n.d.). Monkey beetles (Hopliini). Retrieved 2026, August 20, from https://plotwright.com/wildlife/monkey-beetles
Sources used for this record
This record is compiled from the sources below.
Monkey beetle - Wikipedia
Tribe placement, southern-African endemism, and the pollen/floral-tissue feeding habit of adults.
Beetle marks & flower colour in monkey-beetle visitation, Cape (Annals of Botany)
Documents monkey-beetle pollination and the beetle-pollination floral syndrome in Cape plant communities.
Pollination of Gazania by Hopliini (Environmental Entomology)
Hopliini documented as primary pollen vectors of Gazania, with mating-rendezvous behaviour on the flowerheads.
iNaturalist: Hopliini
iNaturalist tribe-rank taxon 489493 for Hopliini, the monkey beetles, with community observation range data; GBIF's backbone carries no Hopliini node.