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Cockchafer
Melolontha sp.
42.6482, 18.1008
Field Notes
Description:
This is a larvae, or 'grub' of one of the species from Melolontha genus, hard to say which one. It was about 5cm in length, quite chubby, cream-whitish in colour with brown head, brown short legs and a line of brown dots on sides. The adults are also known as Maybug or Maybeettle.
Habitat:
Found in large numbers in a heap of compost we have in our garden, in urban environment in Mediterranean region. Grubs feed on organic matter in it, and we usually find a lot them in it - we considered them as very useful in that compost. Located at outskirts of Dubrovnik, on lower slopes of Srdj mountain, the garden is terraced and covered in Mediterranean fruit trees and spontaneous vegetation.
Notes:
1. Two species of Melolontha genus are accounted for in this region, common cockchafer, (M. melolontha) and slightly smaller forest cockchafer, (M. hippocastani). 2. Interesting this about cockchafer larvae is that it grows four or five years underground, before becoming adult. 3. Both larvae (feeding on roots) and adults (feeding on leaves) are considered important agricultural pests in years of massive occurrence - in modern agriculture they were almost brought to extinction in Europe in '70ies. 4. In 19th century, there are records of both adults and grubs being served as food, and indeed specialties - the Wikipedia article (link besides) provides an interesting account of these practices.
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