CHAFER, a word used in modern speech to distinguish the beetles of the family Scarabaeidae, and more especially those species which feed on leaves in the adult state. For the characters of the Scarabaeidae, see COLEOPTERA. This family includes a large number of beetles, some of which feed on dung and others on vegetable tissues. The cockchafers and their near allies belong to the subfamily Melolonthinae, and the rose-chafers to the Cetoniinae; in both the beetles eat leaves, and their grubs spend a long life underground devouring roots. In Britain the Melo lonthines that are usually noted as injurious are the two species of cockchafer (Melolontha vulgaris and M. hippocastani), large heavy beetles with black pubescent prothorax, brown elytra and an elongated pointed tail-process; the summer-chafer (Rhizo trogus solstitialis) , a smaller pale brown chafer ; and the still smaller garden-chafer or "cockerbundy" (Phyllopertha horticola), which has a dark green prothorax and brown elytra. Of the Cetoniines, the beautiful metallic green rose-chafer, Cetonia aurata, sometimes causes damage, especially in gardens. The larvae of the chafers are heavy, soft-skinned grubs, with hard brown heads provided with powerful mandibles, three pairs of well-developed legs, and a swollen abdomen. As they grow, they become strongly flexed towards the ventral surface, and lie curled up in their earthen cells, feeding on roots. The larval life lasts several years, and in hard frosts the grubs go deep down away from the surface. Pupation takes place in the autumn, and though the perfect insect emerges from the cuticle very soon afterwards, it remains in its underground cell until the ensuing summer. After pairing, the female crawls down into the soil to lay her eggs. The grubs of chafers, when turned up by the plough, are greedily devoured by poultry, pigs and various wild birds. When the beetles become numerous, they are usually shaken off the trees where they rest on to sheets or tarred boards. On the continent of Europe chafers are far more numerous than in Britain, and the rural governments in France give rewards for their destruction.
The anatomy of Melolontha is described in a memoir by H. E. Strauss-Durckheim (1828) .