ID of gold beetle please

[Lemars]

He was big, noisy and beautiful and he flew in and away again in seconds. I hoped I'd managed a better picture, but is anyone able to tell me what type of beetle this is - despite the poor focus?

Thank you

C

[Jason Claxton]

Hi Lemars

It looks like Cetonia aurata, Rose Chafer

I not sure what else there is in France though.


Jason

[Lemars]

Thank you Jason. I've had a look and agree that's what it looks like. I've seen many good-sized similar beetles before, but this was so very clearly brilliant gold in colour.

A google-search on images produced no results when I tried to find it earlier, Maybe I used the wrong search words, but I hoped that "large" - it was about 2 - 2.5cm, by the way - and "gold beetle" would produce a picture, but nothing similar appeared.

It was certainly extremely distinctive.

Thanks again.

C

[Jason Claxton]

Hi Lemars

I believe Cetonia aurata,varies a bit and there can be gold looking ones out there though.

[Gerel]

Originally Posted by Jason Claxton

Hi Lemars

I believe Cetonia aurata,varies a bit and there can be gold looking ones out there though.

The scientific name suggests that whoever named it was familiar with golden examples .