Protaetia cuprea

Protaetia cuprea
Protaetia cuprea ignicollis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Scarabaeidae
Genus: Protaetia
Species:
P. cuprea
Binomial name
Protaetia cuprea
(Fabricius, 1775)
Synonyms[1]
  • Cetonia cuprea Fabricius, 1775
Copper chafer in Israel

Protaetia cuprea, also known as the copper chafer, is a species of chafer in the family Scarabaeidae.[2] This species is also known as the rose chafer and has a wide geographic distribution, extending from Canary Islands, Portugal, and Spain to the west towards Vladivostok in the Russian Far East, Mongolia, and North China.[3] This species forages for pollen from flowers and fruits, such as apples, from trees. However, since fruit is scarce in the spring and winter, they only transition from a diet of pollen to a diet of fruits in the summer.[4] Since pollen is richer in proteins and lipids than carbohydrates, while fruit is richer in carbohydrates, they are able to travel longer when on a fruit diet; this is due to their increased aerobic performance when fueled by high-carbohydrate content.[4]

This beetle is well-known for its flight ability, a skill that supports its foraging behavior. It has swift maneuvering ability and strong precision when landing on flowers and plants; it is able to do this due to the elasticity and mechanisms this beetle's wings possess.[5]

  1. ^ "Protaetia cuprea". Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  2. ^ Citizen science observations for Protaetia cuprea at iNaturalist
  3. ^ Vondráček, Dominik; Fuchsová, Aneta; Ahrens, Dirk; Král, David; Šípek, Petr (2018-02-20). "Phylogeography and DNA-based species delimitation provide insight into the taxonomy of the polymorphic rose chafer Protaetia (Potosia) cuprea species complex (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae) in the Western Palearctic". PLOS ONE. 13 (2): e0192349. Bibcode:2018PLoSO..1392349V. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0192349. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 5819786. PMID 29462164.
  4. ^ a b Urca, Tomer; Levin, Eran; Ribak, Gal (2022). "Metabolic cost of flight and aerobic efficiency in the rose chafer, Protaetia cuprea (Cetoniinae)". Insect Science. 29 (5): 1361–1372. doi:10.1111/1744-7917.13011. ISSN 1672-9609. PMC 9790465. PMID 35142427.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Meresman2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).