Rose Chafer

Rose Chafers are active between April and September, flying clumsily, usually being seen in sunny weather.

Species introduction

At a glance
Latin name: 
Cetonia aurata
Family: 
Scarab beetles
Family Latin name: 
SCARABAEIDAE
Category: 
Insects other

Species description

Species description

Rose Chafers are not as common an insect as one might believe. They are active between April and September, flying clumsily, usually being seen in sunny weather. 

Their length is between 1 and 2 centimetres. Their colouring is varied (but not to be confused with the Brown Chafer Beetle, Serica brunnea, which is fairly common across Britain). Wing casings show white marks, and there is a V-shaped mark on the back where the wing cases meet. 

(Note that the photographs shown here are of the same individual. The iridescent colour of the insect's wing casings - elytra - changes from brown to green to gold depending upon the viewing angle and the light.) 

These beetles feed on fruits, leaves and flowers, often of roses, hence the name. Because of this, they are often considered to be a pest.

Species photographs

Larger photograph(s) (click to magnify)
Rose Chafers are active between April and September, flying clumsily, usually being seen in sunny weather.
The V-shaped mark on the back of Rose Chafers where the wing cases meet can be seen clearly in this photograph.
Note the irregular white markings on the wing casings of this Rose Chafer.
These beetles feed on fruits, leaves and flowers, often of roses, hence the name.

Details

Species family information

There are more than 30,000 scarab beetles worldwide. They are stocky insects, often with bright metallic colours. Their antennae, which are used to detect smell, are usually clubbed. Many are diggers, others have horns to aid in fighting competitors for mates and resources. Larvae of these beetles, called grubs, are pale. Many of these beetles are nocturnal, although flower chafers are not.

Category information

Insects evolved in the Ordovician from a crustacean ancestral lineage as terrestrial invertebrates with six legs (the Hexapoda). This was the time when terrestrial plants first appeared. In the Devonian some insects developed wings and flight, the first animals to do so. An early flying group was the Odonata from the Carboniferous, the damselflies and dragonflies, which have densely-veined wings and long, ten-segmented bodies. They are day-flying carnivores, with an aquatic larval stage, so are commonly seen flying near water. The carnivorous larvae are called nymphs. Odonata species are short-lived, damselflies surviving for 2-4 weeks, dragonflies for up to 2 months.

Some insect groups in the Cretaceous co-evolved with the flowering plants, and they have had a close association ever since. These groups are the Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ants), the Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), the Diptera (flies), and the Coleoptera (beetles). The diversity of beetles is astonishing. Of all the known animal species on the planet, one in five is a beetle!