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This pearl and metallic blue leaf beetle might be a new phenotype of a commonly seen red and metallic blue leaf beetle. At first I thought it was a teneral adult, but the entire bush is covered in this phenotype. I kept a few for 3 days and there was no color change (pictures 3 & 4). The usual color of this beetle can be seen in the last picture. Family Chrysomelidae.
Abandoned field, semi-urban area, outskirts of San Cristobal de Las Casas, 2,200 meters.
Spotted on May 8, 2013
Submitted on May 17, 2013
4 Comments
Thank you Larry. I haven't seen one again.
Great spotting Lauren!
Thank you Keith, I am looking all about to see if I can find more. I saw one of the original types yesterday. I could catch both types and see if they mate.
Very interesting that is a dramatic difference! Anyone else in the area find these could be a new population if enough are seen.