Phyllopertha horticola
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
Phyllopertha horticola, the garden chafer or garden foliage beetle, is a beetle from the family Scarabaeidae. Phyllopertha horticola was described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. Phyllopertha horticola var. ustulatipennis A. Villa & G. B. Villa, 1833
This rather common species is widely widespread in Europe and in Asia, east to Siberia and Mongolia. In the north of Europe their distribution reaches the middle Fennoscandia and includes the British Isles, in southern Europe it mainly occurs in the mountains. It is the only European representative of the genus Phyllopertha.
These beetles inhabit bushes, hedgerows, woodland edges, meadows and fields, from the lowlands to mountainous areas. They also live in parks and gardens, hence the common name of garden chafer. Phyllopertha horticola is approximately 8.5–11 millimetres (0.33–0.43 in) in size. Unlike Mimela of the same family, these beetles have a non-ovoid body. They have chestnut-brown wing casings which are covered with a long upright pubescence. On each elytron run six longitudinal bands of small dots. Head and thorax are finely... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Snowdonia National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 2 | Hohe Tauern National Park | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 3 | Vanoise National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 5 | Białowieża National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 6 | Triglav National Park | 🇸🇮 Slovenia | |
| 7 | Aigüestortes National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 8 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 9 | Ecrins National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 10 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 11 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amsterdam | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | |
| 2 | Warsaw | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 3 | Hamburg | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 4 | Kyiv | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | |
| 5 | Liverpool | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 6 | Novosibirsk | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 7 | Rotterdam [The Hague] | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | |
| 8 | Birmingham | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 9 | Copenhagen | 🇩🇰 Denmark | |
| 10 | Essen | 🇩🇪 Germany |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Garden Chafer sighting in Ecrins National Park on a given day, based on 11 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 119th most-seen of the 251 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Garden Chafer in Ecrins National Park on a given day, against under 5% in August to May, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Garden Chafer sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
9th of 11
Of the 11 parks where we can rate Garden Chafer sightings, Ecrins National Park ranks 9th at about 10%. The best odds are in Snowdonia National Park (United Kingdom, about 30%), Hohe Tauern National Park (Austria, about 20%) and Vanoise National Park (France, about 20%).
Same family: Scarabaeidae
The closest relatives of the Garden Chafer that you can see in Ecrins National Park (family Scarabaeidae, Scarabs) are Eurasian Bee Beetle (about 20%), Copper Chafer (about 10%) and Mediterranean Spotted Chafer (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Garden Chafer is recorded against all the insects logged in Ecrins National Park (11 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
