Jewel Beetle

Chrysodema sp.

Description:

Buprestidae; Chrysodema Laporte & Gory, 1835. This Jewel Beetle belongs to the Genus Chrysodema. There are nine very beautiful pictures of Chrysodema beetles in http://web.romascuola.net/bups/drmlands/...... At the top of the page it states that all nine beetles are endemic to the Philippines. As you can see, the beetle in my pictures is in poor condition, the thorax and both elytra are heavily scarred and scratched (it has also lost part of leg no. 2 on its right side). Obviously, the loss of a part of one leg does not make the identification of the beetle any more difficult, but there are two Jewel Beetles on romascuola.net, either of which could be a match for my beetle. These are called C. eximia and C. intercosta. Because of the poor condition of my beetle, I can't really be sure. It is disappointing because I would have liked to send my spotting to the Philippine Endemic Species Mission, but I can't send an "sp." How could I say that my beetle is endemic if I don't even know its name :-)

Habitat:

Spotted in a roadside gully, climbing on broken branches and leaf litter.

Species ID Suggestions

4 Comments

John B. a year ago

Hi Mark,
Thanks for the comments and the link to SaNaSaNz's spotting. That one is in much better shape than the poor thing I saw. I had one a little more like that in my spotting https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/89...... I will spend some more time on Chrysodema dalmanni tomorrow. It might be the ID I need for my old spotting. As you can see, the head on the latest one (with the "impressive eyes") is brown. I'll try to sort it all out in the morning
Best Regards, John