Cockchafer

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Scarabaeidae
Genus: Melolontha
Species
M. melolontha (Linnaeus, 175
M. hippocastani Fabricius, 1801
M. pectoralis Germar, 1824


The cockchafer (colloquially called May bug, mitchamador, billy witch, or spang beetle, particularly in East Anglia) is a European beetle of the genus Melolontha, in the family Scarabaeidae.

Once abundant throughout Europe and a major pest in the periodical years of "mass flight", it had been nearly eradicated in the middle of the 20th century through extensive use of pesticides and has even been locally exterminated in many regions. However, since an increase in regulation of pest control beginning in the 1980s, its numbers have started to grow again.

Taxonomy

There are three species of European cockchafers:

The common cockchafer, Melolontha melolontha
The forest cockchafer, Melolontha hippocastani
The large cockchafer, Melolontha pectoralis, which is very rare and occurs only in south-western Germany.
Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockchafer