European rose chafer
It can fly fast with its hard wing cases closed, thanks to a gap along their edge that lets the flight wings extend without lifting them.
| Where | Gardens, hedgerows, woodland edges |
|---|---|
| Size | 14 to 20 mm body length |
| When | April to September |
It has a bright, glossy metallic green body with faint irregular white streaks across the wing cases and a V-shaped mark where they meet.
Adults feed openly on flowers such as roses and elder in sunny weather, while larvae develop over one or more years in decaying wood and compost.
Traits
Habitat
Garden
Colour
Green, Metallic
Active
Day
To people
Harmless
Activity through the year
Often confused with
The noble chafer has an equilateral triangular scutellum, while the rose chafer's is a narrower isosceles triangle.
Questions
Is the European rose chafer dangerous to people?
The European rose chafer is harmless to people.
When can you see the European rose chafer?
The European rose chafer can be seen from April to September, by day.
Plate retouched from a photo by URSchmidt, CC BY‑SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons Licence
The plate on this page is shared under the same licence as its source, CC BY-SA.
Report a mistake in this entry
Last updated 2026-09-26. Every entry is checked against published sources.