Tropinota squalida
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
Tropinota squalida is a species of beetle belonging to the family Scarabaeidae, subfamily Cetoniinae. These beetles are mainly found in France, Italy, Greece, Portugal, former Yugoslavia, Spain, in the Near East and in North Africa. They are not present in North or South America.
Larvae feed on roots, while the adults can be encountered from May through July feeding on flowers. They are 10–15 millimetres (0.39–0.59 in) long. The adults are considered an agricultural pest in many zones. They eat the flowers of a variety domestic plants, notably fruit trees, apple, pear, cherries, quince but also strawberries and flowers such as roses and irises. They will eat the pistil, stamens and petals leaving no possibility for fruit production. After feeding they will return to the soil in the area and come out again within a few days if the temperature is warm enough and continue feeding.
Head, scutellum and elytra are dark-brown, with a thick and long tawny hair on elytra and abdomen. Elytra show two series of white spots on the sides of the central hull. Scutellun is rounded and hairy, but glabrous in the posterior. The fifth humeral slot is bifurcated. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sierra Nevada National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 2 | Doñana National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 3 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 5 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Hairy Rose Beetle sighting in Barcelona on a given day, based on 84 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 90th most-seen of the 381 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Hairy Rose Beetle in Barcelona on a given day, against under 5% in May–September and November–January, the lowest months.
Between 1 and 4 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Hairy Rose Beetle sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 8
Of the 8 cities where we can rate Hairy Rose Beetle sightings, Barcelona ranks 4th at about 10%. The best odds are in Tunis (Tunisia, about 30%), Algiers (Algeria, about 20%) and Naples (Italy, about 10%).
Same family: Scarabaeidae
The closest relatives of the Hairy Rose Beetle that you can see in Barcelona (family Scarabaeidae, Scarabs) are Mediterranean Spotted Chafer (about 20%), European Rhinoceros Beetle (about 10%) and Speckled Rose Chafer (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Hairy Rose Beetle is recorded against all the insects logged in Barcelona (84 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
_(2).jpg/330px-Phyllognathus_excavatus_Forster%2C_1771_male_(3182022511)_(2).jpg)
