A cockchafer is a type of large, flying beetle that can be quite noisy. 'It looks vicious but is actually a tool for females to lay eggs into the ground.'. Curl grubs are the larvae of different species of beetle including the African Black Beetle, the blackheaded pasture cockchafer, Christmas beetles and Scarab beetles. The grubs (sometimes called rookworms as they are prized by corvids) can devastate cereal crops. A 19th century recipe from France for cockchafer soup reads: "roast one pound of cockchafers without wings and legs in sizzling butter, then cook them in a chicken soup, add some veal liver and serve with chives on a toast". Cockchafer beetles used to be common across Europe, but were almost wiped out by pesticides during the 20th century. The cockchafer is sometimes called a ‘doodle-bug’ or May bug, although it is in fact a beetle. When a beetle lands on the ground, the delicate wings tuck safely away under hard wing cases called elytra. Adult cockchafers only live for about 5 or 6 weeks. ', ... or that it helped you learn something new. A cockchafer is a type of large, flying beetle that can be quite noisy. Large beetles, which are clumsy and make a very loud buzzing sound when flying. Seen for the first time, an adult cockchafer, or May bug, can cause a bit of a stir and people can be worried by them. No need to register, buy now! Seen for the first time, an adult cockchafer, or May bug, can cause a bit of a stir and people can be worried by them.Â. Until pesticides started controlling them in the Twentieth Century, cockchafers were a serious agricultural pest. We are closed until further notice. These small and slender members of the beetle family are a common pest usually associated with roses, but they do eat other types of plants as well. Mostly affect flats and high rise buildings. The May bug or doodlebug - Latin name Melolontha melolontha – known as the Spang beetle and Billy witch in Suffolk and the chovy, mitchamador, kittywitch or midsummer dor in Norfolk, is actually the Common Cockchafer. Thank you. These pests will feed on your lawns root system and will be a serious problem. The good news is that the beetles, which are a scarab beetle in the dung beetle family, cannot bite. https://www.buglife.org.uk/bugs/bug-directory/common-cockchafer The adults eat leaves and flowers. The cockchafer is about 2.5cm in length and is the largest species of chafer beetle in the UK. May bugs spend most of their time underground as larvae. The beetles themselves don’t cause any damage at all to your lawn. Sign in to manage your newsletter preferences. The cockchafer may have got its most common name from a mixture of "cock" as in familiar, such as "cock-sparrow", and "chafer" from "cefer" or "kaefer", a gnawing beetle… If more than 5-10 grubs are found per section, chafer control is recommended. The most recognisable of these in the UK is the Cock Chafer, a large beetle which you’ll see between May and June. The adult beetles have reddish-brown wing cases and a black head with short fan-like antennae. Our expert guide to cockchafers explains how to identify this fascinating beetle, plus facts about their diet and habitat. This pygidium often leads people to believe that this species can sting, but do not worry – this beetle cannot sting. Root feeding grubs include; white curl grub, scarab beetle larvae, lawn beetle larvae or cockchafer. Get email updates about our news, science, exhibitions, events, products, services and fundraising activities. It is also prone to falling down chimneys. Dr Grove suggests collecting the cockchafers and putting them outside where a chook or bird would enjoy eating them. Insects usually need to sniff out two things – food sources and mates. The cockchafer, colloquially called Maybug or doodlebug, is the name given to any of the European beetles of the genus Melolontha, in the family Scarabaeidae. Thanks! We use cookies to make your online experience sweeter. The grubs are white and C-shaped with six legs and reddish-brown heads.Â. Antennae are the olfactory sense organs of insects, and this formation greatly increases the surface area available for the chemosensors. Common chafer on green grass. Cockchafers, along with stag beetles, dung beetles, dor beetles and scarabs, have the last three to seven segments of their antennae expanded into flat, plate-like leaves, which sit in a distinctive fan-like arrangement. One of Britain’s bulkiest beetles, the 3-cm-long cockchafer can be heard and seen buzzing and bumping against light fittings and window panes (more commonly in the south) from late April to July. You can unsubscribe at any time. ', Although they are known as bugs, cockchafers are not true bugs, which belong to another group of insects that includes shield bugs, water bugs, aphids and scale insects.Â. Find out about the plants and animals that make the UK home. The larvae feed on dead plant material and the live roots or stems of a broad range of plants including lawns. Dangerous pest in the garden. Adult European chafers are tan or brown beetles resembling June beetles and measure approximately 1.5cm in length. At first glance you could mistake it for an earwig. The chubby white grubs attack grass blades from the roots, potentially ruining pristine turf. Other than being a nuisance, the beetles are not harmful. The life cycle of the common cockchafer (Melolontha melolontha) has the following stages: egg, three larval instars, a pupal instar and the adult beetle.The adult beetle is 25 to 30 mm long, with a dark head, black pronotum covered with short hairs, and reddish brown elytra with four longitudinal ribs each. Cockchafers are also called May bugs because of the time of year when they tend to emerge. Despite their clumsiness, these winged beetles are destructive, for they find their food by stripping foliage from trees. During that time, they look for a mate and fly into the tree tops to feed on leaves. And those aren’t the only names in use either – mitchamador, billy witch and spang beetle have all been used in different areas in the past. Only those grubs found in turf are likely to be chafers damaging lawn roots Other less troublesome species of chafer grubs can also occur in turf and garden borders, such as the cockchafer ( Melolontha melolontha ), summer chafer ( Amphimallon solstitialis ) and brown chafer ( Serica brunnea ). Chafer grubs, dung beetles and stag beetles all have similar looking grubs. To reverse the damage we've done and protect the future, we need the knowledge that comes from scientific discovery. The largest and most conspicuous of the almost 90 species of scarabs found in the British Isles is the Cockchafer (or May-Bug). With its rusty-brown wing cases, pointed 'tail' and fan-like antennae it is unmistakeable. People tell us they 'still get shivers walking through the front door', and thank us for inspiring the next generation of scientists. 'They have a segment called the pygidium at the end of their abdomen, which is long and pointed,' Hine said. What do cockchafer beetles look like? The cockchafer is sometimes called a ‘doodle-bug’ or May bug, although it is in fact a beetle. Females lay their eggs in the soil, and these hatch into carnivorous larvae. Fast Facts. In autumn they seek somewhere to hibernate. Adult cockchafers are associated with deciduous woodland where they feed on tree leaves. There are nearly 20 species of chafer in Britain, most do not cause problems in gardens; The larvae have white bodies, brown heads and three pairs of legs the largest species, the cockchafer or Maybug (Melolontha melolontha) can reach 50mm in length. These are not to be mixed up with the “witchetty grub”. Adult European chafers are tan or brown beetles resembling June beetles and measure approximately 1.5cm in length. You must be over the age of 13. Cockchafers have whitish triangles on their sides, hairy bodies, reddish-brown wing cases that meet in the middle and orange fan-like antennae. It is a clumsy flier and makes a buzzing sound. There are two species of cockchafer found in the UK: the common cockchafer (Melolontha melolontha) which is found in the south of the UK, and the northern cockchafer (Melolontha hippocastani) which is found in northern England, Scotland and Ireland. During the day it tends to rest among leaf litter or under stones. In 1574, cockchafers emerged in such numbers in the Severn valley that the volume of carcasses disabled watermills. Cockchafer guide: how to identify and where to see, Stag beetle guide: how to identify, and how to help them in your garden, Best plants to grow for pollinators in your wildlife garden, Volunteer interview: Running a beetle recording scheme, A Vulture Landscape – 12 months in Extremadura, Garden butterflies to spot in March and April. Adults: cockchafer beetles are large and bulky, growing up to 30mm in length. ‘They sometimes mistake chimney stacks for tree tops and occasionally fall down chimneys into open fireplaces,’ Hine said. She said, 'They've certainly been seen in April this year around the country.'. Chafer grubs are the larvae of chafer beetles. We use them to help improve our content, personalise it for you and tailor our digital advertising on third-party platforms. Find the perfect cockchafer beetles stock photo. Cockchafers, also known as Maybugs, have distinctive, fan-shaped antennae. They are short-lived and do not bite or sting. Cockchafers tend to live between four to five weeks. The Year of the May Bug. This cycle means that a lot of may bugs emerge from the ground every 4 years. Large beetles, which are clumsy and make a very loud buzzing sound when flying. The common cockchafer, Melolontha melolontha, is a rather large beetle that flies about noisily, emitting a loud whirring noise.It is more commonly known as the May Bug and it gets this nickname as it commonly emerges in early May and is seen frequently during this time. 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