The green June beetle (Cotinis nitida), perhaps. They are gorgeous. The adults feed mostly on fruit. You are probably seeing females going underground to lay their eggs. They do this over a span of a couple weeks.

Yes!- I've been meaning to look these up! I first noticed them a month or two back while I was digging up sod under an old cedar tree- at that time they were just larvae. I first thought they were acorns, maybe from mulch that the previous owner had used, since they larva is encased in some sort of shell that looks like it might be made out of soil? Eventually- many squished "acorns" later- I realized they were an insect of some kind. Last week if I broke open a casing, the immature beetle inside was more brown-gold than green, but the ones that are now zooming around are a beautiful irridescent green. They're reminiscent of the scarab beetles that used to be made into jewelry in the Victorian Age. I haven't noticed them eating anything, mostly hovering over the grass and making the dogs go crazy. I wish I could have identified them earlier, as I dug up hundreds of larvae, and wasn't sure if I should make an effort to save them, or assume they were bad guys and destroy them. Looks like some of them made it! Are they a serious threat to fruit?....

No, not really. The larvae supposedly do damage to grass but I don't care about that so I don't pay attention. I look forward to seeing June beetles every year, they are so pretty. Right now we're just seeing May beetles like crazy. No JBs yet. Someone should tell them they're late! LOL

They are not so gorgeous when your trapped in your car, driving down the road, and hear a loud buzzing sound...only to find the world's largest irridescent beetle flying around INSIDE your car! I spend 10 minutes the other day pulled over outside of West Chester trying to swat it out of the car. I think it's still in there. :( Maybe I should dust my upholstry with Sevin? Just kidding...

LOL yes anything that loud will scare me while I'm driving too. But I'd be very relieved it wasn't a wasp or bee. That I can't deal sharing a car with!

i had one fly into my hair the other morning, i had bent over to pick a weed, one came buzzing and as i moved to get up, it flew right into my hair. the whole scene was rather comical.

this is the first year for me seeing these massive things and i agree, their colors are gorgeous. i was wondering if the difference in color (green/gold) had anything to do with their gender.

Has anyone else heard that classic recording of a green June beetle flying towards and landing on a microphone? I have the recording saved on a disk somewhere. It's great. I'll try to find it. LOL

Okay, I'm less bugged out now- no pun intended! last night I woke up out of a dead sleep to my cat freaking out- and this loud whirring in the dark. i heard the thunkthunkthunk of this thing hitting my walls and windows and upon sitting up to inspect the sound, the unidentified and unseen thing flew into my long and sleep-knotted hair causing me to scream like a little girl and run around the room frantic! it was in my hair for damn near a full minute until i got it out!!! What was that thing? My boyfriend, now awake- hid under the covers while i carried on...Was that a small bat? some sort of bird?...
I turned on the light to find this beetle- almost an inch long- same description as above! Light green- gold hues... It was pretty- beautiful even- even at 1:30 a.m.... Still, strange and disruptive!!
Needless to say, after i got my attacker outside, sleep was restless wondering- How the hell did that thing get in here? and- Are beetles mutating into GIANT almost bird-like creatures? ha!

OH! So THAT's what that was! I thought it was a giant mutant JB and I drowned it in soapy water when I found it on the daisies.

I just saw my first one yesterday but it was dead. I showed it to my bug loving 4yr old and she threw it in my weed bucket. She didn't like it.

They are swarming our yard, but don't appear to be in the neighbor's yards. How did we get so lucky? Are you sure they don't eat plants?

What is the difference beteen June beetles and Japanese Beetles? I thought they were the same? One we should get rid of and one keep? I have many green metalic beetles all around and they are definitely eating my plants.

We just started to see these large beetles. Where were they before today? It rained last night and this morning they were everywhere. Are they destructive? How long might they be around? Thanks for the info.