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ZoPteryx — Breyer's Jewel Scarab
#arizona #beetle #breyers #coleoptera #insect #jewel #jewelscarab #scarab #skyisland #maderacanyon #chrysina #breyersjewelscarab #madreanskyisland
Published: 2015-08-16 06:48:02 +0000 UTC; Views: 751; Favourites: 27; Downloads: 6
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Description
When I heard rustling behind me, I turned around expecting see a little lizard. Instead, I was face to face with one of the biggest and most spectacular beetles I've ever seen! Breyer's Jewel Scarab (Chrysina beyeri) is just one of the many fascinating creatures that can be found in the Madrean Sky Islands of southern Arizona, though seeing one in broad daylight is rather unusual. These colorful insects are highly sought after by collectors, and while I do have an insect collection, on this day I decided to leave with photos rather than specimens.Photo taken in Madera Canyon, AZ.
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Comments: 6
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I tried looking up this particular beetle but found nothing I'm afraid... However, I can see why this, and the other Jewel Scarab specimen they had as an example would be sought out by collectors...
How large do they get? I ask because every time I hear a European or American say "large insect" they tend to refer to somewhat average sized things... (Well "Average" coming from a person living in South Africa)
Are these endangered by the way? Since so sought out and all?
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This blog post has lots of great information on them.
Perhaps large is a bit of an exaggeration, certainly not a Goliath Beetle or anything! This one was around 6 centimeters in length, here's some photos (not mine) that show the scale. I typically consider any insect "large" if it's thumb-sized or up.
As mentioned in that blog post, none are considered endangered, but several species (especially this one) have very restricted ranges in the U.S. and could probably do with some measure of protection.
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Oh interesting! You should come to South Africa some time, we've common dung-beetles, longhorn beetles and "Toktokkies" that can sometimes fit most of the space on your palm~
And then irritating Christmas Beetles which are about the size that you describe and fly into everything, especially faces XD
>.> Not to mention pretty species of all sizes that I'm sure you'd love to collect (Legally of course.)
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