Garden chafer

The garden chafer is also called the garden foliage beetle. As its name suggests the garden chafer often inhabits gardens and other areas with abundant vegetation. It can be found throughout Europe and Asia.

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Coleoptera

Family: Scarabeidae

Genus: Phyllopertha

Species: Horticola

The garden chafer is a beetle averaging 1/3 to 1/2 inch (about one centimeter) in body length. Its square-shaped body is found in shades of shiny, metallic green or reddish-brown. Like other beetles, the garden chafer is divided into three main body parts. Those parts are the head, thorax, or middle-section, and the abdomen, or tail section.

The head of the garden chafer is very small and points downward off the front end of the garden chafer's thorax. On the head are the two antennae which the garden chafer uses to help it sense smells in its environment. The head of the garden chafer also contains this insect's biting mouthparts. The mouthparts of the garden chafer consist of the four main parts of mandibles, or main jaws, maxillae, the upper lip, and the lower lip. The mandibles are used to cut, pierce, and chew the vegetation eaten by the garden chafer, while the other parts help the garden chafer to taste and to swallow.

Across the back of the garden chafer are its two protective wing-covers or elytra. Like the rest of the garden chafer's body, the elytra are shiny brown or green. Each elytrum is formed from one of the front wings of the garden chafer and serves to protect the garden chafer's delicate rear wings from the environment. When the garden chafer is not flying, its elytra cover its back like a solid piece of exoskeleton, or external skeleton. But when the garden chafer takes to the air each elytrum lifts to allow room for the garden chafer's rear wings to flutter and flap. The garden chafer uses its ring wings to fly from plant to plant throughout its habitat. When the garden chafer is feeding, it typically moves across a tree or flower by using its six legs.

In addition to gardens, this beetle also inhabits wooded areas and other locations with abundant vegetation. The garden chafer is often seen visiting flowers from April to July.

Although the adult garden chafer feeds mostly on deciduous trees, or trees which change throughout the seasons, young garden chafers feed on many other kinds of vegetation. The diet of the larval garden chafer includes the roots of small grains, grasses, corn, parts of potato plants, and strawberry bushes.

Mating season for the garden chafer takes place during the early months of summer. After mating the female lays her fertilized eggs in burrows which are six to eight inches (15 to 20 centimeters) deep. The female lays between 15 and 20 eggs. Generally, the eggs hatch into beetle larvae after about four to six weeks.

Garden chafer larvae are white, worm-like grubs which spend most of their time feeding on plant roots. During the end of the summer the larvae move into the soil and transform into their pupal stage. They grow their adult wings during this time and grow into their adult bodies. Typically, adult garden chafers emerge from pupation in October but do not begin flying until the following summer.

The garden chafer has a life span of about one year, with the final adult stage lasting only one to two weeks. Although the garden chafer beetle is considered an agricultural pest and humans attempt to kill it, the garden chafer beetle is not a threatened species.

Bibliography

Beucke, Kyle. “Garden Chafer - Phyllopertha Horticola (L.).” California Department of Food and Agriculture, 3 July 2018, blogs.cdfa.ca.gov/Section3162/?p=5577. Accessed 31 Mar. 2024.

“Phyllopertha Horticola, Garden Chafer Beetle: Identification Guide.” First Nature, www.first-nature.com/insects/c-phyllopertha-horticola.php. Accessed 31 Mar. 2024.