Click a picture to see a larger view.
Here is a collection of photos trying to illustrate the life cycle of this beautiful beetle (15-21mm long).
Please, contact me if you have found some of their larvae or adults.
Links:
References:
Chinery M (2005) Collins Complete British Insects (Collins).
Contact: Maria Fremlin.
Last updated August 2011.
All photos were taken in Colchester, Essex, CO3 3AT, UK, which seems to have an interesting hot-spot for rose chafers.
Indeed the results of the ongoing Colchester Rose Chafer Survey seem to indicate that, at present, Colchester records are the only ones for the whole of Essex, see Species account, Essex Field Club.
Rose chafers seem to be expanding their range in the Colchester area; otherwise they are a southern beetle.
Plus, their larvae can be found in plant pots where they feed in the compost and don't do any damage to the plants.
All records of imagos, larvae, and null ones will be very appreciated.
LA CÉTOINE DORÉE (Cetonia aurata)! (Coléoptère Cetoniidae) - A very informative page by André Lequet who has followed the whole life cycle and is showing pictures of their eggs.
Wikipedia page for Cetonia aurata
Cetonia aurata semiochemical, Pherobase. They do smell very strongly when distressed. Now we know that it probably is anethole.
Warning! There are some websites that put Cetonia aurata with the root feeder chafers. This is wrong. C. aurata does not feed on fresh roots.
Englund R (1993) Movement patterns of Cetonia beetles (Scarabaeidae) among flowering Viburnum opulus (Caprifoliaceae). Oecologia 94:295-302.
Fremlin M (2008) Know Your Chafers, Nature in North-East Essex, 40-45. [PDF]
Jessop L (1987) Dung Beetles and Chafers (Scarabaeoidea), 2nd ed.
Karolyi F, Gorb SN, Krenn HW (2009) Trapping pollen by the moist mouth: structure and function of the mouthparts in the flower visiting Cetonia aurata (Scarabeidae, Coleoptera). Arthropod-Plant Interactions 3:1-8. [PDF]
Tashiro H (1990) Insecta: Coleoptera, Scarabaeida Larvae, Soil Biology Guide, Edited by Daniel L. Dindal.