Scarabaeoidea is one of the largest superfamilies of Coleoptera that include largest family Scarabaeidae. Scarabaeoidea includes approximately 31,000 species worldwide of which the family Scarabaeidae is comprised of 27,800 species (Jameson and Ratcliffe, 2001). Scarabaeidae consist of 13 subfamilies, of which Melolonthinae and Rutelinae are the largest that are widely distributed throughout the world. These beetles are universally known as May beetles or June beetles or cockchafers in their adult stage due to coincidence of their emergence during the month of May/June and the habit of feeding on leaves of plants.

The larvae of these beetles are called white grubs or root grubs as they are subterranean feeders on roots and underground stems of living plants. Lefroy (1906) gave an account on white grubs infesting bajra and other millets in his monumental work ‘Indian Insect Pests’ and later in 1909 reported that larval stages of Phyllognathus dionysius (F.)(Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae) were destructive to rice crop in his ‘Indian Insect Life’. Stebbing (1914) recorded the damage to crops by white grubs from Punjab in India, subsequently Fletcher (1919) reported Serica and Maladera species (Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae) as serious pests of tea, coffee, cherry, roses. More than 2000 species of