#3174 · 🪲 beetles

Common Cockchafer

🇳🇱 Gewone meikever ·Melolontha melolontha

🪲 Beetles 📍 in the Netherlands

7 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences

1. © JÃ¼rgen Mangelsdorf · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
2. © Gilles San Martin · CC BY-SA 4.0
3. © Donald Hobern · CC BY 4.0
4. © Gilles San Martin · CC BY-SA 4.0
5. © marie_hanova · CC BY-NC 4.0
6. © theredplains · CC BY-NC 4.0
7. © Anne SORBES · CC BY-NC-SA 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

NL sightings 714iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 24,245iNaturalist observations

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 714 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: the #12 most seen of the beetles in NL.
24,245 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Scientifically named in 1758 (268 years ago).