Resident of a commune: Gold-shining rose beetle

Surely each of us has seen him before and the award “Insect of the Year”, given to him in 2000, certainly contributed to his popularity:
The Golden Shining Rose Beetle (Cetonia aurata).

With its iridescent optics it inspires large and small, and I also find it incredibly engaging, which is why it often lands in front of my lens. The colouration of rose beetles is very variable and with a size of 14-20 mm it can shine in many metallic colours.

The large beetles (imagines) fly from April to September, but what hardly anyone knows, and where our habitat tree now comes into play, is that they lay their eggs in places that provide enough food for the growing brood, such as wood that has become friable and protein-rich.

One rarely gets to see this process. Or how often does one meet a beetle laying its eggs?!

Unfortunately, this creates the image as if the beetles are busy 24/7 on the meadows and in the garden. The most important detail in the cycle is often not known, namely that the brood can be found somewhere completely different. The eggs of the golden rose beetle hatch into young larvae, which become grubs that eat their fill in the duff of old trees or in humus soil from compost, and thus undergo a development period of 1-2 years until they become beetles. Also with the food, the beetles fall back gladly on the juices from old trees. Therefore, they can also be seen sitting on tree bark, licking the liquids produced during crack growth or bark damage.

Incidentally, they are not parasites, as flower pollinators and humus builders rather the opposite - a valuable part of the ecosystem.