Insects: Dung Beetles and Chafers (Scarabaeidae) - Common Cockchafer (Melolontha melolontha)

The World of Minibeasts

Chafers: the Common Cockchafer

Probably the most commonly known representative of the Dung Beetle and Chafers' family in central Europe is the Common Cockchafer or Maybug (Melolontha melolontha). In some European countries, its common name in addition represents two similar, but much rarer species, so that three different species altogether hide behind the same common name. It is their Latin names though that identifies the species precisely.

Grown up insects feed on the foliage of a variety of deciduous trees and can be harmful to them, if the beetles occur in large populations. In the fifties and sixties of the past century, in central Europe the species was intensively fought by insecticides, that also harmed other insects and many birds. Since them, the periodical occurrence of large populations has ceded, and the species in some countries has become a protected rarity.

Above, a male shown by its profile, with its fans folded and pointing downward. Common Cockchafers may reach up to 30 mm of length. They show characteristic black sides with a white strip on each segment of their hind part.

In spring, the female lays 15-30 eggs into the ground at a depth of 10-30 cm. They are of yellowish color and of about 3 mm of length. After a short time the larvae hatch, feeding on the roots of different plants, that may include cereal and vegetable plants.

In favorable conditions, the larva hibernates twice, transforming into a chrysalis by August of the third year.

The beetle hatches from the chrysalis by the end of summer, but will not leave its nest (? we have an idiom in German, translated by "chrysalis' cradle". Is there a special English expression for the nest-like thing that they create and that they hibernate in?) to hibernate and swarm by May of the year following.

In favorable conditions, every three years their may be a "Maybug" year, in unfavorable conditions it may take up to five years for the Common cockchafer to develop.

On the left, a male just taking off a leaf. The top wings (elytra) vibrate slightly, while the below wings (blurry in the foreground) flap heavily. The fans are expanded with the right one to appear as an orange spot.