Cetonia aurata
In 3 days ~70% in a week ~90%
Cetonia aurata, called the rose chafer or the green rose chafer, is a beetle, 20 millimetres (3⁄4 in) long, that has a metallic structurally coloured green and a distinct V-shaped scutellum. The scutellum is the small V-shaped area between the wing cases; it may show several small, irregular, white lines and marks. The underside of the beetle has a coppery colour, and its upper side is sometimes bronze, copper, violet, blue/black, or grey.
Cetonia aurata should not be confused with the North American rose chafer, Macrodactylus subspinosus, or with the rarely seen noble chafer, Gnorimus nobilis, which is very similar to the rose chafer. One way to identify Cetonia aurata is to look at its scutellum; on the noble chafer the scutellum is an equilateral triangle, but on the rose chafer it is an isosceles triangle.
Rose chafers are capable of fast flight; they fly with their wing cases down. They feed on pollen, nectar, and flowers, especially roses. They can be found among roses on warm sunny days from May until June or July, and occasionally as late as September. Rose chafers are found in southern and central Europe and in the southern part of the United Kingdom, where... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Triglav National Park | 🇸🇮 Slovenia | |
| 2 | Białowieża National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 3 | Gauja National Park | 🇱🇻 Latvia | |
| 4 | Plitvice Lakes National Park | 🇭🇷 Croatia | |
| 5 | Biebrza National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 6 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 7 | Kiskunság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 8 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 9 | Fertő-Hanság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 10 | Vanoise National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 11 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 12 | Ecrins National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 13 | Hohe Tauern National Park | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 14 | Mercantour National Park | 🇫🇷 France |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a European Rose Chafer sighting in Gauja National Park on a given day, based on 10 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 3rd most-seen of the 29 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report a European Rose Chafer in Gauja National Park on a given day, against under 5% in September, the lowest month. That is one of Gauja National Park's wettest months, with about 110 mm of rain against 50 mm in March. January and February have too few records to rate.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most European Rose 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.
3rd of 14
Of the 14 parks where we can rate European Rose Chafer sightings, Gauja National Park ranks 3rd at about 30%. The best odds are in Triglav National Park (Slovenia, about 40%) and Białowieża National Park (Poland, about 30%). All parks ranked.
Same order: Coleoptera
The closest relatives of the European Rose Chafer that you can see in Gauja National Park (order Coleoptera, Beetles) are Woodland Dor Beetle (about 40%), Red Pine Longhorn Beetle (about 30%) and Red-Breasted Carrion Beetle (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the European Rose Chafer is recorded against all the insects logged in Gauja National Park (10 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.
