POLYBOTHRIS SUMPTUOSA GEMMA |
DOWNLOAD PDF DOCUMENT KINGDOM : Animalia PHYLUM : Arthropoda CLASS : Insecta ORDER : Coleoptera SUBORDER : Polyphaga SUPERFAMILY : Buprestoidea FAMILY : Buprestidae GENUS : Polybothris SPECIES : P. Sumptuosa --------------------------------- |
POLYBOTHRIS SUMPTUOSA GEMMA WOOD BORING / JEWEL BEETLE
Polybothris sumptuosa is a species of beetles in the family Buprestidae. These wood boring beetles can be found in Madagascar.
Polybothris sumptuosa can reach a length of about 35-38 millimetres. This jewel beetle shows various chromatic forms. There are a shiny metallic blue form (P. sumptuosa gemma), a dark green form (P. sumptuosa superba) and a dark green to black form (P. sumptuosa sumptuosa).
The iridescence common to these beetles is not due to pigments in the exoskeleton, but instead is caused by structural coloration, in which microscopic texture in their cuticle selectively reflects specific frequencies of light in particular directions. This is the same effect that makes a compact disc reflect multiple colors.
Adult beetles are elongate or oval with short antennae in most genera, with the leaf-mining genera being nearly circular in appearance. Nearly all adults have some metallic coloration on their bodies, often with the brightest coloration under the wings or on the underside.
Buprestidae is a family of beetles known as jewel beetles or metallic wood-boring beetles because of their glossy iridescent colors. Larvae of this family are known as flatheaded borers. The family is among the largest of the beetles, with some 15,500 species known in 775 genera. In addition, almost 100 fossil species have been described.
The larger and more spectacularly colored jewel beetles are highly prized by insect collectors. The elytra of some Buprestidae species have been traditionally used in beetlewing jewellery and decoration in certain countries in Asia, like India, Thailand and Japan.
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