Animal field guide
May Beetle
Melolontha
May beetles are robust scarab beetles best recognized by their rounded brown wing covers, fan-like antennae, and seasonal spring flights.
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Invertebrate · Temperate gardens · Relatively common
Known for: Rounded brown wing covers, Fan-like antennae, Stout scarab body, Late-spring adult flights
Understand the animal
Understand the May Beetle
Factual biology first: what this animal is like, where it lives, how it survives, and why those traits exist.
Introduction to May Beetle
Why?May beetles are robust scarab beetles best recognized by their rounded brown wing covers, fan-like antennae, and seasonal spring flights.
How to identify a May Beetle
- Rounded brown wing covers
- Fan-like antennae
- Stout scarab body
- Late-spring adult flights
Why May Beetle are interesting
- Larvae live underground and feed on plant roots.
- Adults often fly at dusk or night and may be attracted to lights.
- Many May beetles spend far longer as larvae than as active adults.
Adaptations and biological abilities
Why?- Rounded brown wing covers
- Fan-like antennae
- Stout scarab body
- Late-spring adult flights
Why does May Beetle behave this way?
Why?- Rounded brown wing covers
- Fan-like antennae
- Stout scarab body
- Late-spring adult flights
Adults are most noticeable during evening or night flights in the spring emergence season.
Why Temperate gardens?
Why?Habitat: Temperate gardens, fields, hedgerows, grasslands, orchards, and woodland edges across much of Europe and western Asia.
Native range: Temperate gardens, fields, hedgerows, grasslands, orchards, and woodland edges across much of Europe and western Asia.
Native range
Natural range, not this specific capture location.
Temperate gardens, fields, hedgerows, grasslands, orchards, and woodland edges across much of Europe and western Asia.
Why this diet?
Why?Larvae feed mainly on roots in soil; adults feed on leaves from trees, shrubs, and other vegetation.
Activity, rest, and lifespan
Why?Adults are most noticeable during evening or night flights in the spring emergence season.
Common May beetle development often spans several years underground before a short adult breeding period.
May Beetle reproduction
Why?Females lay eggs in soil, where larvae hatch and feed on roots through multiple growth stages.
Males often have larger, more fan-like antennae used to detect female pheromones.
Predators, threats, and defense
Why?Birds, bats, small mammals, predatory insects, and parasitoids can prey on May beetles or their larvae.
Conservation and rarity
Why?Rarity: Relatively common · 18/100. AnimalDex canonical rarity score: 18/100, maintained by the live indexed species profile.
- Observe from a respectful distance and avoid changing the animal's behavior.
- Do not block feeding, shelter, nesting, or travel routes.
- Use a live camera capture without handling or staging wildlife.
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Ask AnimalDex about the May Beetle
Ask about its biology, behavior, abilities, survival strategy, symbolism, or what its strategy can teach you. Answers stay grounded in this species page.
Anonymous: 3/day. Signed-in: 10/day. Pro: 30/day fair use.
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Compare the May Beetle
Where to find them
Where to find May Beetle
To find May Beetle in the wild, focus on the exact habitat patches that match its body design and daily behavior, not just the broad country where it exists. You usually do better by working one good piece of habitat inside temperate gardens, fields, hedgerows, grasslands, orchards, and woodland edges across much of Europe and western Asia. than by covering too much ground.
- Forest edge, canopy gaps, fruiting trees, or shaded trails where cover and food meet
- Open grassland edges, lightly wooded plains, or raised ground where you can scan long distances
- Protected habitat blocks within temperate gardens, fields, hedgerows, grasslands, orchards, and woodland edges across much of Europe and western Asia.
Animal field guide
May Beetle
May beetles are robust scarab beetles best recognized by their rounded brown wing covers, fan-like antennae, and seasonal spring flights.
No captures yet
Native range
Natural range, not this capture location
Temperate gardens, fields, hedgerows, grasslands, orchards, and woodland edges across much of Europe and western Asia.
Search near meAnimalDex stats
Dominance
8
Speed
28
Size
6
Intelligence
8
Rarity
18%
Total
68
Size scale
Scientific name
Melolontha
Category
Invertebrate
Habitat
Temperate gardens, fields, hedgerows, grasslands, orchards, and woodland edges across much of Europe and western Asia.
Rarity
Relatively common · 18/100
Native range
Temperate gardens, fields, hedgerows, grasslands, orchards, and woodland edges across much of Europe and western Asia.
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