Melolontha is a genus of beetles in the family Scarabaeidae. The European cockchafers belong to this genus.

Melolontha
A cockchafer (Melolontha melolontha)
at take-off
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Scarabaeidae
Tribe: Melolonthini
Genus: Melolontha
Fabricius, 1775
Species

Many, see text

Taxonomy

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Linnaeus called the European cockchafer Scarabaeus melolontha. Étienne Louis Geoffroy used Melolontha as a genus name (1762), but his book has been suppressed by the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature, and the authority for the name is the later (1775) publication by Johan Christian Fabricius.[1]

Species

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M. hippocastani

The following is a list of species within the genus Melolontha:[citation needed]

References

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  1. ^ "AnimalBase :: Melolontha genustaxon homepage". www.animalbase.uni-goettingen.de.