Cockchafer's white grubs

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

The beech didn't. I have never seen so much damage done to the well mycorrhized fine roots of a tree before by these gluttonous beasts, which mainly live from munching grass roots. Maybe the problem arose, because beeches highly depend on rain for their water supply and develop very supercial and close to ground level fine roots, which in this case were densily "interwoven" with grass roots.

 

no doubt, and certain that the mycorhizea is a fundemental part of the dietry needs of these grubs, hence the lack of "selective feeding" on the grass?

[Fungus]

no doubt, and certain that the mycorhizea is a fundemental part of the dietry needs of these grubs, hence the lack of "selective feeding" on the grass?

 

Maybe, although grass roots have mycorrhizae, that is to say, endomycorrhizae too.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Maybe, although grass roots have mycorrhizae, that is to say, endomycorrhizae too.

 

 

yes thats what I mean, in other words, had the mycorrhizea not been on both the grass and the tree roots maybe if only on the grass the cross feeding might not have occurred?

[Fungus]

had the mycorrhizea not been on both the grass and the tree roots maybe if only on the grass the cross feeding might not have occurred?

 

Yes, maybe, but why also eat the woody and less digestible tree roots of the beech, if you could just as well confine to gnawing off the ectomycorrhizae, while consuming the grass roots and their endomycorrhizae completely, unless your "starving", because of the many grubs present ?

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Yes, maybe, but why also eat the woody and less digestible tree roots of the beech, if you could just as well confine to gnawing off the ectomycorrhizae, while consuming the grass roots and their endomycorrhizae completely, unless your "starving", because of the many grubs present ?

 

interesting, there was a lot of them! and I also thought they prefered stumps?

 

so is a lack of suitable stump root fodder making them cross over diets? oportunism, or is grass in fact their preferred diet?

[Fungus]

1. I also thought they prefered stumps? so is a lack of suitable stump root fodder making them cross over diets?

2. is grass in fact their preferred diet?

 

1. No, decayed wood (of oak stumps) is preferred by the grubs of the Stag beetle (Lucanus cervus).

2. And grass roots are the preferred food of Cockchafer's grubs.

[Fungus]

... grass roots are the preferred food of Cockchafer's grubs, ...

 

... which explains why the grubs are absent in beech woods, because Fagus keeps all the light from the forest floor and on top of that makes the growth of plants and/or grasses impossible underneath the tree by "sealing" the tree floor with thick layers of slowly decomposing leaves, capules and twigs.

In this case, the beech is standing in an often mown lawn, which makes the regeneration of grass roots even more excessive.

[Sam Thompson]

Where did he put them to call them cockchafers though?!

 

 

 

I have the maturity of a 13 year old. Are they tasty?

[Fungus]

Where did he put them to call them cockchafers though?!

 

I don't know why you British gave this chafer such a name, in Dutch we simply call them May or June beetles .

[Ty Korrigan]

Yes indeed...

A poor translation of the 'cockchafer' into modern english is...

Cock rubbing hard or a hard cock rubbing...

To chafe is to rub agressively...

And all this on a family forum!

Ty