Japanese Beetles (Popillia japonica) were unintentionally introduced to the New Jersey area in 1916. Since their arrival, they've spread throughout approximately 30 Eastern and Midwestern States and are one of the most destructive pests of plants, lawns, and agricultural crops.

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Based on what the Japanese Beetles did to my flowers this Summer, I confess that I wasn't overly sad to see the scene above with Nature being Nature.

I don't know what originally happened. However, by the time I spotted the ant dragging the dead beetle off, the ant had already eaten a lot of the soft portions of the head and some of the underside of the body. Pretty gruesome if you stop to think about it... Ugh!!!

Nevertheless, the thing that fascinated me most was how the ant was able to carry off the beetle by himself.

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Ants will eat all types of insects. These insects include crickets, earwigs, grasshoppers, termites, cockroaches, maggots, mealworms, butterflies etc. Ants rarely waste food, and since they’re scavengers, insects that have died from other natural causes will still be on the menu.

Whatever happened to cause the beetle's demise, it ended up as ant food. The determined ant above undoubtedly got the Japanese beetle home to share with others in the colony. Although he was all alone during the entire time I watched, it was obvious that he had a goal.