Chafers and Scarabs, Weevils and Jewels

It is Beetle Week and I attended an online talk by the inimitable Geetha Iyer, whose breadth and depth of insights on biodiversity in general and insects in particular are pretty awesome, to say the least.

I learnt that 40% of insects are beetles, and these include those weevils that ate up my Kabuli channa last week - so well did they burrow and munch that all that was left was skeletal remains.  (Never mind that I was banking on the said channa to feed some guests, and alternate emergency Plan B menus had to be thought of.)

Beetles are prehistoric survivors, crawling around even before dinosaurs stomped the earth, and from what I understood one of the secrets to their longevity on the planet is the hard elytra which keeps them safe from fungal and other attacks.  

Geetha shared some fiction with beetles that I now have to read - The Gold Bug by Edgar Allan Poe with a scarab beetle in it.  This one sounded astonishing - The Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals - EP Evans,  lists a total of 191 animal trials, and it all seems quite bewildering. In one of the cases, weevils were taken to trial in 16th century France by winemakers.

And then there are flesh eating beetles - Dermestids - that are used by those who need to clean skeletons in their cupboards - no not politicians, but scientists and researchers!  Geetha mentioned that these little creatures can industriously eat upto 5 times their body weight each day, and they are "efficient workers, do not damage the bones" and go about their business quite thoroughly.

This Tiger Beetle (Lophyra catena) was scurrying around in the sand in my mother's garden last year. They run real fast (so fast that they have to stop and reorient themselves every now and then, I read) and are quite difficult to photograph, so I am rather pleased at this picture with a mobile camera of these little carnivores.

This Leaf Chafer scarab beetle had sought the safety of the indoors to breathe its last.  I am guessing they chafe leaves in plenty and are not a friend of the farmer.

This beauty I spied on a milkweed many years ago, in the TTUF park at Taramani peaceably chomping away.  Leaf beetle of the genus Platycorynus

The Indian Green Tortoise Beetle was seen after a spell of rain in the same TTUF campus.

A Rhinoceros Beetle met its end, probably crushed underfoot.  

Rhino beetles are kept as pets I believe.  And in Thailand and Japan, Rhino beetle fights are a thing.  I did not know this.  there is even a card game called Mushiking.  Rhino beetle fights are legendary - they are herbivores and harmless, but the males, push shove and throw each other in their fight for a male!

And then just to confuse people like me there are Jewel Bugs which look like beetles but are not, as against the true Jewel beetles.

This is a Jewel Beetle (

This is a Jewel Bug, it sucks and does not chomp and that is not an elytra - it is a scutellum.  And see - there is no division in the middle, so it cannot split open, when they fly.

Sternocera chrysis), chomping leaves at TTUF, its hard elytra in full glory.

Another road kill.  A gorgeous Flower Chafer Beetle did not make it across the road.  

"In terms of movement, adults are considered some of the best flyers among beetles. They can hover above and land on flowers or fruit. When threatened by predators, they escape by either performing a rush take off or by falling toward the ground and then flying before impact. " Wikipedia

And now I am off - need to restock on kabuli channa, remember?  (And next time those weevils come to feast, I shall take some pictures before subjecting them to capital punishment.)

Update

Sternocera chrysis - seen on September 7th.  A Jewel Beetle