Beetle – a curious nature

Lanceolated Chafer- Page 13 .. The 100 Day Project (2026)

July 9, 2026

Lanceolated Chafer (Phyllophaga lanceolata)

(syn Melolontha lanceolata)

aka Brown Scarab Beetle, May (June) Beetle

The Lanceolated Chafer (Phyllophaga lanceolata) is a scarab beetle native to North America. In New Mexico (along with Colorado and Kansas) these chafers thrive in open, grassy ecosystems, including native shortgrass prairies, pastures, rangelands, and agricultural fields dominated by grasses like blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis) and others. It’s in these arid habitats that the larvae (grubs) are rarely considered major pests¹. Unlike most Phyllophaga species, adults are diurnal (active during the day); females are flightless.

Adults – This small to medium-sized chunky beetle, is about 0.5 to 0.7 inches (13 to 17 mm) long; females are larger than males. Their hard wing/body cover (elytra) is brown with several darker brown/grayish longitudinal marks under a coat of white bristly hairs. Their segmented abdomens are mostly a smooth grayish/white; their thorax (pronotum) is heavily covered with long brown hairs. Because of their noticeably long, magenta-colored legs, they stand tall above the ground while walking. If picked up, their legs feel clingy and prickly. Adults live only 1 – 2 months, just long enough to grab a quick bite to eat, mate, and lay eggs.

Calling All Males!

The female Lanceolated Chafer produces and uses a unique sex pheromone, l-leucine methyl ester, to attract males! Because this pheromone acts as a highly-targeted sex attractant in the wild, she is able to communicate her readiness to mate and get a rapid response. As has been demonstrated in field trials, male chafers catching a whiff of her urgent communication can’t resist the call and come flying (read the true story of my eye-witness account in my post titled The Life and Times of the Lanceolated Chafer ). Research scientists (and I) whole-heartedly believe this pheromone contributes to the species’ reproductive success in its native range.

This was a unique discovery because the Lanceolated Chafer is the first scarab beetle ever identified to produce an amino acid-derived pheromone. (And there are over 35,000 species of scarab beetles in the world, making up one of the largest and most diverse insect families on Earth!) The pheromone is so effective at targeting male chafers that entomologists use it to monitor and manage populations of these beetles in agricultural crops and turfgrass.

Probably a male chafer, walking along the 2-track trail

And now a note about topic organization …..

As in all beetle species, it’s usually the adults that are encountered. And it was the adult stage of the Lanceolated Chafer that’s most obvious along the subdivision’s 2-track rockpile trail. That’s why information about the adults was placed first, even though it’s actually the final stage in the life cycle of the chafer. But it’s interesting to understand how all those adults came to be. So the following few sections tackle the highlights of the 1 – 3 year long larval stage, and pupal stage of their life cycle, which take place after egg laying and hatching. Afterall, the Lanceolated Chafer spends the longest parts of their lives underground. And then, for no particular reason, I’ll end with a section on entomology.

Larval Stage – Larvae (grubs) have a translucent white to cream-colored body and a light tan to brown hard and stiff (sclerotized) head capsule. Larvae have three pairs of well-developed legs. When at rest they do so in a C-shaped curve.

By the 3rd instar, internal organs are more visible and jaws are larger! Grubs have a voracious appetite.

Larvae live for 1 – 3 years, primarily in the upper layers of the soil profile. To protect themselves from extremes in soil temperatures, both in summer and winter, they will burrow to depths ranging from 3 to 20 inches (7.6 to 50.8 cm), averaging 10.3 inches (26.2 cm). Larvae actually hibernate in the winter.

The three instar stages of larvae development, serves to progressively increase body size, head capsule width, and degree of sclerotization. At the end of each instar, larva take up excess air and/or water to swell their bodies. This extra pressure causes its old exoskeleton to split, allowing it to be shed (a process called ecdysis). Mature (third instar) larvae are 1.75 inches (45 mm) long with a nearly uniform body width.

Pupal Stage and Metamorphosis – When larvae are ready to move beyond the third instar, each individual builds a protective, earthen cell in the soil 8 to 12 inches (20 to 30 cm) deep where they will remain for the next 2 – 4 weeks while they undergo metamorphosis and and finally emerge as adult beetles.

Etymology

The genus, Phyllophaga, is a generic name that comes from two Greek words ….. phyllon which means “leaf,” and phagos which means “eater.” The specific epithet lanceolata comes from the Latin word lanceolatus, meaning lance-shaped, probably referring to the fine, lanceolate hair-like scales covering parts of the beetle’s body, such as the head (frons) and thorax (pronotum). The etymology of the word “chafer” comes from an Old English word meaning “gnawer,” referring to the beetle’s strong jaws.

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Hope you found this interesting!

As always, thanks for stopping by!

¹ Larvae of Lanceolated chafers are considered serious pests in the humid central and eastern U.S. they cause extensive damage to agricultural crops like corn, timothy, potatoes, and various other plants in the grass (Gramineae), pea (Fabaceae), and sunflower (Asteraceae) families.

References

ageconsearch.unm.edu

bugguide.net

grokipedia.com

iNaturalist.org

insectIdentification.org

invasive.org

npsnm.org

Lunginbill Sr., P and Printer, H.R., 1953, May Beetles of the US

The Life and Times of the Lanceolated Chafer

The Case of a Mysterious Wormy Thing

July 9, 2026

This is the third year in a row that I’ve noticed these seemingly unremarkable-looking brown beetles “hiking” along the rock pile 2-track road. They appear all at once, about mid-June, then vanish after several weeks. This year (2026) these scruffy/fuzzy beetles, know as Lanceolated Chafers (Phyllophaga lanceolata), really caught my attention, especially after finding myself at ground zero of a mass male Flash Mob¹ !!! From all directions, determined (and awkwardly) flying male chafers were dodging my legs to land on top of a lone female beetle frantically struggling against an earlier arriving male. His prickly lance-like legs had pinned her to the ground so she was lying on her side unable to use her legs. While she squirmed at my feet, newly landed beetles tried to fling off the original male to claim their rights to the female. Males continued to land until there must’ve been 30 or more, with fights breaking out everywhere, on top of the female and all around my feet. Each male was jousting to be victor.

But a victor of what? Was this some sort of mating ritual? Had the female released highly potent pheromones to attract a mate? If so, how far did her “call” drift on the wind to bring together so many males at one time? Did she intend to call only one male, or was her purpose to entice a stampede? If she anticipated a herd, was her intent to mate with the first one (the fastest?) to arrive? Maybe she hoped for battles and skirmishes to ensue, where the strongest of all males would win her favor(s)? This still remains a mystery, as I couldn’t find anything in the literature to explain this behavior?

While pondering these questions (and daring not to move my feet for fear of squishing one of the many male pile-ups), I bent over for a better look. It was then I noticed an opaque white, worm-like thing slowly emerging from the female’s abdomen! “What could this be?” …..

Was it a larva? Probably not ….. Female chafers don’t give live birth; they lay eggs in the soil beneath their favorite host plants (such as mallows), where they hatch into grubs that remain underground for up to two years before emerging as adult beetles.

Five males fighting for the female (notice how much larger she is than a male). Bit of a skirmish, left side.

Was it part of or the actual female genitalia? Maybe? I’m still searching for information about that notion.

Was it part of the male genitalia that had somehow broken off inside the female during insemination? Is that even possible? Again, still searching for answers about chafer sex.

Three males with the female (notice the “wormy” thing). One male, lower left, apparently confused?

For another 5 minutes I closely observed the squirming female laying helpless on the ground fighting off numerous suitors while still displaying the wormy “thing.” As more males continued to arrive, crash-landing on other grounded males and adding to the chaos, something changed. Can’t explain what happened, but in a matter of 15 seconds all the males stopped their aggressive fighting and took flight; the female uprighted herself (regaining her dignity?), quickly walking away like the nothing unusual had just happened. I watched her go, noticing she was no longer in possession of the wormy “thing,” and couldn’t find it anywhere at or near the scene!

The party is over. A male walking away, looking for a mallow to snack on.

After-math

Over the next several days, nary a chafer was found! Had all the males satisfied their natural desires? Had all the females become pregnant, laid their eggs and vanished? “After” doing the “math” on the days following the event, I counted only two beetles walking the 2-track road, one headed north — one headed south. Scouts? ….. Because Lanceolated Chafer adults only live 1-2 months, and because none have been seen since the last two, that may be the end of sightings for this year. While there’s still the occasional pack of ants dragging away a dead beetle to share with their colony, the legacy of adult chafers lives on. Recently-laid eggs will hatch after only 18 days into white or cream colored, C-shaped larvae. Those grubs will munch away on mallow and grass roots for the next 1-3 years until a perfectly warm mid-June day, sometime in the future, the adults emerge from the soil to complete their life cycle.

Epilogue

Since most chafer beetles are nocturnal (active at night), if you’ve seen an adult during the day, it may have been the Lanceolated species which are diurnal (active during the day). And you may have unwittingly encountered any of the chafer species found in North America…….

An exhausted male, a bit off balance, as he feeds on mallow leaves.

…….. If you’ve ever seen one or more of your carefully-tended, vigorously-growing garden plants up and die overnight, it may have been victimized by root-living chafer grubs.

…….. If you live in the central or eastern U.S., grubs may be feasting on the roots of agricultural crops, like corn, soy, or sunflowers. Headline news is sure to cover the story of devastation and financial ruin brought on by the voracious chafer beetle larvae, complete with video of farmers holding a handful of grubs dug from below the soil surface.

Have you experienced one of these close encounters?

Hope you’ve found the “Life and Times of the Lanceolated Chafer” interesting (or maybe educational, peculiar, or maybe even fascinating!?!). Let me know what you thought.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

¹ A flash mob is defined as a large group of people who suddenly assemble in a public place, perform a brief, pre-arranged action (like a synchronized dance), and then quickly disperse. Flash mobs are typically organized online via social media or viral messaging for entertainment or artistic expression. I think this definition nearly perfectly fits the chafer beetle dance I was witness to on that fine mid-June morning somewhere along the 2-track rock pile trail.

Shifts in Nature

August Littles ….. 2025

September 8, 2025

Ohhhhhh, what a sweet month …… August. It almost got away from me without sharing a small collection of Littles¹ that reflect the inevitable shifts in nature that occur during the month. It’s always hard to imagine summer winding down; where did the time go? But as surely as butter melts on freshly baked bread, undeniably, August forms a reliable bridge between summer and autumn. It’s a time of change and transition; abundance and harvest; transformation and a period of letting go.

So before I “let go” and before the snow flies (and it will), here’s a handful of little discoveries during the month of August:

-A female Wheel Bug gone slightly astray while searching for a protected place to overwinter the eggs she’s about to lay.

-A female Soldier Beetle doing her best to attract a mate by sending out pheromones while munching late season pollen from the disk flowers of a brilliant yellow Showy Goldeneye.

-An acorn that made it to maturity, ready to drop beneath a still green-leaved Gambel Oak soon to be decked out in radiant fall colors.

-Some hot red trumpet-shaped Scarlet Gilia flowers, still irresistible to hummingbirds until migration, will all be pollinated in time for seed set and mature.

-The snowy white fruit dangling from the draping branches of Roundleaf Snowberry shrubs are ripe and ready for plucking by hungry birds flying south for the winter.

-And plump purple-black Chokecherry berries that will become a juicy dietary supplement for black bears needing to bulk up for hibernation.

Enjoy!

And as always, thanks for dropping by!

¹“Littles” is part of a blog series I began posting several years ago, beginning in January 2023. The concept was inspired by Fay (thanks again Fay!) who came up with the idea for her blog madebyfay.wordpress.com

If you’d like to read more of an explanation, check out my January 2023 post, Winter Birding on Sedillo Hill

On the Cusp ….. Fall Equinox in the East Mountains

October 28, 2024

September 22nd was a morning full of new-to-me discoveries in nature. That was more than a month ago; a time when temperatures were still in the upper 80’s and flowers in full bloom.

But plenty of hints of what was to come ….. the inevitable change in seasons ….. existed. There were seeds of spring and summer bloomers blowing in the wind; squirrels stockpiling pine nuts from recently shed cones; darkling beetles mating and laying eggs in the ground to hatch next year’s population; caterpillars feasting on energy-packed flower petals needed to spin their cocoons; the chortling chatter of sandhill cranes high overhead migrating to Bosque del Apache for the winter.

Still it is hard to believe that today, a little more than a month later, everything has turned brown, and our first hard frost is forecasted for tomorrow morning!

In an effort to cling to a not-so-long ago summer, this small selection of the botanical and entomological happenings on the cusp of Fall, is now a part of my nature journal. Enjoy!

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Travel Alert! Rhinos on the Loose …… in New Mexico!???

July 29, 2024

One of our early morning landscaping projects has been keeping us busy shoveling our way through 14 tons of pea gravel, one wheelbarrow load at a time. As each backbreaking load is hauled into our back yard and dumped on miles of weed barrier fabric, we keep reminding ourselves how nice it will be when Luna no longer returns home with muddy paws.

What began as a daunting pile of millions and millions of tiny little stones, by morning #3 the pile still looked impossibly huge, while the only thing diminishing was our enthusiasm. So it wasn’t a big surprise when, after only 15 minutes of scooping, a very large and shiny black beetle was welcome excuse for a break! After all, she was charging across our travel path, and without rescuing would’ve surely been squished flat under a careless wheelbarrow tire!

And we paused …… for nearly 45 minutes ….. as we ooohed and aaaahed over such a magnificent beetle, wondering what she could be. Well over an inch long, we noticed her blue-black head, thorax (pronotum) and hard wing covers (elytra) as shiny as freshly polished paten leather shoes, were ringed by a dense fringe of rusty orange hairs. When she went belly-up, we could see those hairs all over the ventral (lower) side of her head and thorax.

Not enjoying exposing her undersides to the world, those six flailing, long and powerful, many-segmented claw-tipped legs flipped her body over and she quickly resumed charging across the ground. Roy kept her in sight while I ran for the camera, determined to take lots of photos to get an ID. About a dozen poses later, and with the help of iNaturalist, I learned that our visitor appeared to be a female Western Rhinoceros Beetle (WRB)!

Yes, apparently there are Rhinos in New Mexico! How cool it would be to find a male or two, and watch how they use their horns (which are as tall or taller than their steeply pitched and somewhat concave pronotums) in battle to win a hornless female.

Wonderings! Why was our female WRB in such a hurry? Was she running from a male? Two battling males? Had she mated already and was in search of a Velvet Ash Tree (a NM native species and likely her preferred food source) where she could lay her more than 100 eggs in the soil beneath the tree? How does she find these ash trees, because I’ve never seen one on our 2 acres or along any of our neighborhood hiking trails?

So many unanswered questions! But you can bet I’ll be on the lookout for the next WRB to trek on by. Maybe I’ll drop everything I’m doing (like scooping pea gravel) and follow her or him just to answer a few questions! Do you think Roy will mind being left behind holding the shovel?

As always, thanks for stopping by!