Green Metallic Beauty

Cetonia aurata. Rose Chafer - Guldbagge

Rare visit in Tyra's Garden the Cetonia aurata on my cardoon (Cynara cardunculus), also called the artichoke thistle which is member of the Aster family.

Cetonia aurata, known as the rose chafer, or more rarely as the green rose chafer, is a reasonably large beetle, 20 mm long, that has metallic green coloration (but can be bronze, copper, violet, blue/black or grey) with a distinct V shaped scutellum, the small triangular area between the wing cases just below the thorax, and having several other irregular small white lines and marks. The underside is a coppery colour. Rose chafers are capable of very fast flight; they do it with their wing cases down thus resembling a bumble bee, see photos below clearly illustrating it. They feed on flowers, nectar and pollen, in particular roses (from where they get their name); which is where they can be found on warm sunny days, between May and June/July, occasionally to September. Wikipedia Cetonia Aurata

När vi hör Guldbagge så tänker vi nog mer på ett filmpris (fult ;-) än på denna vackra skalbaggen som man ibland har turen att hitta i trädgården.

These two picture are not my work, they are from a Swedish forum at Odla.nu

Guldbagge forumbilder från Odla.nu av Amaira

Ha en trevlig helg allihop - Have a great weekend!

TYRA