Common Cockchafer

Melolontha melolontha

The Common Cockchafer is a big, brown beetle that comes out in spring. They fly around and can be seen buzzing in gardens and fields, making them a fun sight for kids!

Hábitat: Grasslands

Aspecto

The Common Cockchafer has a distinctive chunky, reddish-brown body with a shiny black head and thorax. It features fan-like antennae and a black triangular tip on its abdomen. Its hardened wing cases cover delicate flight wings, giving it a robust appearance different from many slender beetles.

ReinoAnimaliaFiloArthropodaClaseInsectaOrdenColeopteraFamiliaScarabaeidaeGéneroMelolontha

Common Cockchafer

Categoría

Insectos

Rareza

Common

Peligro

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Snaps

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Datos interesantes

A female cockchafer can lay up to 80 eggs underground during her short adult life!

Cockchafer grubs spend up to four years hidden underground before becoming an adult.

Once, common cockchafers were collected for food or used in children's games!

They use special chemical signals, called pheromones, to find mates in the dark.

Habilidades especiales

The Common Cockchafer can fly accurately at night because of its well-developed antennae that help them sense smells and navigate in the dark.

The Common Cockchafer has larvae that can live underground for years, silently eating plant roots that helps them grow big before transforming.

Medidas y detalles

Envergadura: 50-60 mm
Tamaño: 25-30 mm
Esperanza de vida: 28-42 días
Velocidad de vuelo: 8 km/h
Cantidad de patas: 6

Dieta y alimentación

Adult cockchafers nibble leaves, while their grubs feast on plant roots underground.

Diferencias por edad: Larvae (grubs) eat roots of grasses and crops; adults primarily feed on tree leaves.

Alimentos principales

Oak leaves
Beech leaves
Fruit tree leaves

Método de búsqueda

Foraging

Conexiones ecológicas

eats

English Oak

Quercus robur

Adults defoliate leaves, sometimes causing damage.

eats

European Green Woodpecker

Picus viridis

Hunts cockchafer larvae (grubs) from the ground.

eats

European Badger

Meles meles

Digs up and eats the large, nutritious cockchafer grubs.

eats

Potato

Solanum tuberosum

Larvae can damage the roots of potato plants.

Rasgos

Social

Los animales sociales viven en grupos organizados, cooperando para obtener beneficios de supervivencia como la búsqueda de alimento, la defensa y la cría de descendencia.

Aéreo

Las criaturas aéreas pasan una parte importante de su vida en el aire, utilizando el vuelo para diversas actividades como la caza, la migración o la anidación.