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Insects and other arthropods

Rose chafer

English
Macrodactylus subspinosus

Tabs group

Description

These elongated beetles are 8 to 13 mm long. They are tan or greenish, with long orange-brown legs. The wings do not completely cover the abdomen.

The whitish grubs have brown heads. In the soil they adopt a crescent-shaped position. In the final larval stage, they have three pair of long legs and are up to 13 mm long.

Life cycle

These insects complete their life cycle in one year. The adults live about three weeks, and all emerge at the same time in May and June. After mating, the females lay from 24 to 36 eggs, preferably in sandy soil, at depths of 13 to 15 cm. The larvae hatch from one to three weeks later. They feed on the roots of herbaceous (grassy) plants until temperatures drop in the fall. At that point they burrow deeper into the soil to escape the cold. They work their way back toward the surface in the spring and pupate before turning into adults.

Geographic distribution

They occur in central and eastern North America, including Ontario and Quebec.