Hoplia argentea
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
Hoplia argentea, the Mountain monkey beetle is a species of scarabaeid beetle belonging to the subfamily Melolonthinae. Adults are quite colourful. These flower-loving scarabs, quite common in the mountains, are present in most of Europe (Albania, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland).
These beetles inhabit open landscapes, parks, mixed forests, gardens, forest edges and meadows. The adults of Hoplia argentea grow up to 9–12 millimetres (0.35–0.47 in) long. It is a very variable chromatic species. The body of these medium-sized flower-loving scarabs is covered with pale green, bluish-green or yellow ocher scales. The scales produce interference colors (as with butterflies). Old specimens lose most of the scales, changing their color from green to brown. Like other species of the genus Hoplia, it has fairly long hind legs terminated by a single nail. The legs in males are black with longer hind legs, while in the female they are reddish and the body colour is usually brown.
Adults can... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hohe Tauern National Park | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 2 | Mercantour National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 3 | Ecrins National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Triglav National Park | 🇸🇮 Slovenia | |
| 5 | Vanoise National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 6 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 7 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Munich | 🇩🇪 Germany |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Mountain Monkey Beetle sighting in Munich on a given day, based on 14 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 203rd most-seen of the 521 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and June
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Mountain Monkey Beetle in Munich on a given day, against under 5% in July to April, the lowest months. Those are among Munich's wettest months, with about 130 mm of rain a month against 60 mm in February.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Mountain Monkey Beetle sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Munich, in our data
Munich is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Mountain Monkey Beetle sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Scarabaeidae
The closest relatives of the Mountain Monkey Beetle that you can see in Munich (family Scarabaeidae, Scarabs) are European Rose Chafer (about 20%), Mediterranean Spotted Chafer (about 20%) and Valgus hemipterus (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Mountain Monkey Beetle is recorded against all the insects logged in Munich (14 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.
