#3336 · 🪲 beetles
Chestnut cockchafer
🇳🇱 Bosmeikever ·Melolontha hippocastani
📍 Meijendel and Berkheide, Wassenaar, South Holland, NL
📍 Netherlands
📍 De Horsten, Papeweg 36, 2245 AE Wassenaar, Netherlands
📍 Noord-Brabant, NL
10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © Igor Balashov · CC BY 4.0
- 2. © Andrey Danilin · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 3. © Udo Schmidt · CC BY-SA 4.0
- 4. © Danio Miserocchi · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 5. © usiaz · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 6. © Denis Makhnovsky · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 7. Meijendel and Berkheide, Wassenaar, South Holland, NL:© Tony · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 8. Netherlands:© Tia l'Amie · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 9. De Horsten, Papeweg 36, 2245 AE Wassenaar, Netherlands:© dr. Werner de Gier · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 10. Noord-Brabant, NL:© jagerinaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
what is it?
The cockchafer , colloquially called May bug or doodlebug , is a European beetle of the genus Melolontha , in the family Scarabaeidae.
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- Spotted 50 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist.
- 5,236 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1801 (225 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Chestnut cockchafer
- Nederlands
- Bosmeikever
- scientific name
- Melolontha hippocastani
- class
- Insecta
- order
- Coleoptera
- family
- Scarabaeidae
- sightings in NL
- 50
- sightings in Europe
- 2,413
- sightings worldwide
- 5,236
- GBIF records in NL
- 881
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1801 by Johan Christian Fabricius
relatives· Scarabaeidae
#3170 📷 10Garden Chafer
🇳🇱 Rozenkever
Phyllopertha horticola
👀 909 in NL
#3174 📷 7Common Cockchafer
🇳🇱 Gewone meikever
Melolontha melolontha
👀 714 in NL
#3195 📷 10Brown Chafer
🇳🇱 Roestbruine bladsprietkever
Serica brunnea
👀 335 in NL
#3204 📷 8Kortvleugelboorkever
Valgus hemipterus
👀 273 in NL
#3215 📷 10French Flower Chafer
🇳🇱 Penseelkever
Trichius gallicus
👀 192 in NL
#3226 📷 8Pine Chafer
🇳🇱 Julikever
Polyphylla fullo
👀 157 in NL
#3235 📷 10European Rose Chafer
🇳🇱 Gouden tor
Cetonia aurata
👀 146 in NL
#3240 📷 10Dune Chafer
🇳🇱 Zomersmaragd
Anomala dubia
👀 141 in NL
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 48196, Wikidata Q967333, GBIF 4991026, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.