Adults are usually about 25–30 mm long.
Fine-art photographic collection
Melolontha melolontha
A familiar May beetle whose grub spends years underground locating roots by chemistry and carbon dioxide.
About this species
Common Cockchafer
Melolontha melolontha(Linnaeus, 1758)
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Melolontha melolontha is the common cockchafer, a large scarab whose larvae live in soil and feed on plant roots. Most of its life is spent underground; mass adult flights appear only after a multi-year larval development.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Coleoptera · Scarabaeidae · Melolontha
Accepted taxon. · checked 2026-07-15
most of Europe and parts of western AsiaBroad range and selected reference localities — not a complete occurrence map.
most of Europe and parts of western Asia
Grassland, farmland, gardens, woodland edges and soils containing suitable plant roots.
Adults fly mainly at dusk during late spring and early summer.
Larvae feed on roots; adults browse leaves of trees and shrubs.
Solitary.
What makes this species remarkable?
The white grub usually spends three or four years beneath the soil, while the winged adult may live for only a few weeks.
Buried larvae navigate towards living roots by combining carbon-dioxide gradients with plant-root odours in complete darkness.
A male carries seven movable plates in each fan-shaped antenna, while a female usually has six — a striking difference linked to scent detection.
More photographs
35