''Amphimallon solstitiale'', also known as the summer chafer or European

june beetle June beetle is the common name for several scarab beetles that appear around June in temperate parts of North America: In subfamily Cetoniinae: *''Cotinis nitida'' (Green June beetle) of the southeastern United States *''Cotinis mutabilis'' (Fig ...

, 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 ...

similar to the

cockchafer The cockchafer, colloquially called Maybug, Maybeetle, or doodlebug, is the name given to any of the European beetles of the genus ''Melolontha'', in the family Scarabaeidae. Once abundant throughout Europe and a major pest in the periodical ye ...

but much smaller, approximately in length. They are declining in numbers now, but where found they are often seen in large numbers. At dusk they actively fly around tree tops looking for a mate and can often be found drowning in pools of water the following morning. They are also attracted to light and come in through open, lit windows and fly around lamps, making quite a racket while bumping into lights. They are found throughout the

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

region (and North America) and, commonly seen from June to August, living in meadows, hedgerows, and gardens, and eating plants and tree foliage. These June Beetles are also pests due to eating the roots of potatoes, rape, and legume plants. This can be a problem since not as many of these plants grow which results in them having pathogens on them, causing the food to dry and die. Because of this, chemical pesticides or certain bacteria are used to help keep these insects away.

Distribution

The species can be found in such countries as

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

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Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

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Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

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Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

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, southern parts of

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and

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References

BİRYOL, S., EFE, D., ESKİ, A., DEMİRBAĞ, Z., & DEMİR, İ. (2020). Fungal pathogens of Amphimallon solstitiale Linnaeus, 1758 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). Turkish Journal of Entomology, 375–384. https://doi.org/10.16970/entoted.663690 Tolasch, T., Sölter, S., Tóth, M., Ruther, J., & Francke, W. (2003). (R)-Acetoin-Female Sex Pheromone of the Summer Chafer Amphimallon solstitiale (L.) Journal of Chemical Ecology, 29(4), 1045–1050. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1022992516854 Xing-Zhuo Yang, Li Zhang, Run-Qiu Feng, Li-Jun Zhang, Fang-Zhen Luo & Ming-Long Yuan (2019) Mitochondrial genome of Amphimallon solstitiale (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae) and phylogenetic analysis, Mitochondrial DNA Part B, 4:1, 110-111, DOI: 10.1080/23802359.2018.1536482

External links

*
Amphimallon solstitiale page on Encyclopedia of Life
Beetles described in 1758 solstitiale Beetles of Europe Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Melolonthinae-stub