Rose Chafer found in Hertford

27 August 2015

Unlike the Common Garden Chafer this is not a problem for lawns and is quite an amazing metallic green in colour.

Rose Chafers are one of the larger and more attractive beetles. The upper surfaces are an iridescent emerald green and bronze colour. The underside is a bronze colour. There are ragged white marks running width ways across the wing casings which look like fine cracks. Rose Chafers are usually seen in sunny weather feeding on the pollen and nectar - especially on roses.

The Rose Chafer is sometimes confused with the much rarer Noble chafer, a species normally associated with orchards. One simple way to tell the difference is to look at the scutellum (the small triangular area between the wing cases). On the Noble Chafer it's shaped like an equilateral triangle but on the Rose Chafer it's shaped like an isosceles triangle. The adults feed on flowers, particularly dog roses, during the summer and autumn, and can be spotted in warm, sunny weather. The larvae feed on decaying leaves, plants and roots, living in the soil for several years as they develop. When they pupate, they hibernate in the soil or in rotting wood over winter, ready to emerge as adults the following spring.

It pays to keep an eye on your lawns and the surround plants as you never know what could be around!

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