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Cacao Beetle

Steirastoma breve

Description:

This is a medium sized (1" // 2.5 cm) basically green beetle that is liberally covered with small black spots and a few larger black spots. Its antennae and legs are mostly black with a few gray highlights. It has a formidable set of jaws that can deliver a very painful bite.

Habitat:

Found on a trail alongside the Capahuari River in the Amazon rainforest of SE Ecuador near the Peruvian border (800 masl).

Notes:

I was walking down the trail when I was hit in the chest by something. It turned out to be this beetle. Perhaps I should have put “does not see well” in the description. He fell to the ground and tried to convince me that he was dead (foto # 5) but I wasn’t buying it. A very attractive longhorned beetle, a first for me as well as another first for PN, I believe, but my search was so slow I’m not sure on that.

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2 Comments

Tukup
Tukup 3 years ago

Thanks Watson5. You are right. The bumps weren't big enough to call it a Knobby Beetle, but it was rough. Pretty neat beetle though.

Watson5
Watson5 3 years ago

Great pic Tukup! The details are very clear and this is definitely a really neat looking beetle. The shell looks very rough but perhaps was smooth and just looks rough. Thanks for sharing.

Tukup
Spotted by
Tukup

Pastaza, Ecuador

Spotted on Mar 12, 2020
Submitted on Apr 16, 2021

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