Insects: Dung Beetles and Chafers (Scarabaeidae) - Common Cock Chafer (Cetonia aurata)

The World of Minibeasts

Chafers: the ?? Chafer

The ?? Chafer (Oryctes nasicornis) belong to the big European beetles and may reach a size of up to 40 mm. The species occurs all over Europe, North Africa and a large part of Central Asia. It is protected in some European countries.

?? chafers live in the lowlands, that is, prairie forests and open, deciduous forests. In central Europe most often they prefer warm oak forests. Because they are active during dusk and after sunset only, they are hardly encountered at all.

The female lays yellowish eggs up to 5 mm long into rotten tree trunks or roots, or sometimes into compost or sawdust heaps.

Small horn: female

The larvae take 3-5 years to develop into a beetle. Achieving up to 12 cm in length they are the largest beetle larvae in Europe.

The larva of the third or later year makes a cocoon of clay, wooden pieces or sawdust, which may reach the size of a chicken's egg. After the beetle hatches, it spends the winter in the cocoon to leave it by the end of spring.

Often, ?? chafers can be found in older heaps of sawdust that usually are present in sawmills.

Big Horn: male