''Polyphylla fullo'', the pine chafer, is a

beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

belonging to the family

Scarabaeidae The family Scarabaeidae, as currently defined, consists of over 30,000 species of beetles worldwide; they are often called scarabs or scarab beetles. The classification of this family has undergone significant change in recent years. Several sub ...

, subfamily

Melolonthinae Melolonthinae is a subfamily of the scarab beetles (family Scarabaeidae). It is a very diverse group; distributed over most of the world, it contains over 11,000 species in over 750 genera. Some authors include the scarab subfamilies Euchirinae ...

Description

''Polyphylla fullo'' is the largest of the European

, attaining a length of 38 mm. The body is robust and convex and more or less reddish brown or blackish. It is covered with fine white pubescence which forms marbled spots. Like other members of the genus, males possess an enlarged antennal "fan", which gives a distinctive appearance to these beetles, and gave rise to the scientific name for the genus (''Polyphylla'' = "many leaves"). The adult lives and feed on the foliage of pines, while the larvae live on the roots of grasses and sedges (

Graminaceae Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns and ...

and

Cyperaceae The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus ''Carex'' w ...

Distribution

''Polyphylla fullo'' is found in North Africa, Europe and middle east. It occurs most frequently in central and southern Europe, but it is almost everywhere rare. Its northern boundary is the south of Sweden, the eastern Balkans, the Caucasus and east of Iran. It inhabits sandy environments, such as the edge of a sunny pine forests, vineyards, or dunes.

Gallery

File:Pine Chafer Beetle (Polyphylla fullo) next to a AA Battery.jpg, ''Polyphylla fullo'' next to a AA battery in

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

File:Polyphylla fullo's head.jpg, ''Polyphylla fullo'' head with antennas in "closed" position. File:Scarabaeidae - Polyphylla fullo - male.JPG, ''Polyphylla fullo'', male. Mounted specimen File:Polyphylla fullo Provence.jpg, Female, in Provence, 2016 File:Polyphylla fullo Мраморен бръмбар.jpg, In Bulgaria, 2016 File:Polyphylla.fullo.male.-.calwer.18.15.jpg, Illustration of a male of ''Polyphylla fullo'' from Calwer's Käferbuch, 1876 File:Polyphylla.fullo.female.-.calwer.18.16.jpg, Illustration of a female of ''Polyphylla fullo'' from Calwer's Käferbuch, 1876

References

External links

FunetPolyphylla fullo
Polyphylla Beetles described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Melolonthinae-stub