Cockchafer vs Tooth-Necked Fungus Beetle

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Cockchafer Tooth-Necked Fungus Beetle
Scientific Name Melolontha melolontha Bolitotherus cornutus
Order Coleoptera Coleoptera
Family Scarabaeidae Tenebrionidae
Size 25-30 mm 10-12 mm
Habitat Farmland Woodlands
Diet Root Feeders Fungus Feeders
Regions Western Europe, Central Europe, Northern Europe Eastern North America
Conservation Least Concern Least Concern

Cockchafer

A large, clumsy-flying chafer beetle that emerges en masse on warm May evenings. Its white C-shaped larvae are familiar agricultural pests across Europe.

💡

Did You Know?

In medieval Europe, cockchafer swarms were so destructive that they were once put on trial in court.

Tooth-Necked Fungus Beetle

A heavily armored, warty brown beetle that feeds on shelf fungi on dead trees. Males have two prominent horns on the thorax.

💡

Did You Know?

It plays dead so convincingly that it is nearly impossible to distinguish from a piece of bark.