MetaChat - Silver Beetle of Costa Rica

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03 November 2010

Silver Beetle of Costa Rica - no idea what kind of beetle it is, except for "the silver kind, with purple feet."

post by: filthy light thief at: 16:55 | 8 comments

What is the evolutionary reason for that? Like, do they reflect sunlight and blind predators or something?

posted by amro 03 November | 16:59

Maybe they're toxic, or pretend to be? Beyond that guess, no idea. It may be a member of Buprestidae, known as jewel beetles or metallic wood-boring beetles, a large family of more than 15,000 species known in 450 genera.

posted by filthy light thief 03 November | 17:43

Wow. The photo of the 9-year-old with the beetle on her nose is outstanding.

posted by ufez 03 November | 19:13

I love this planet.

posted by Kronos_to_Earth 03 November | 23:02

Cool! Maybe they're solar!!! And what Kronos said.

posted by chewatadistance 04 November | 07:27

That's the coolest beetle I've ever seen.

posted by apoch 04 November | 08:19

Silver, rare or not, if it came near my face it'd be flattened. (That, or I'd run away screaming like a little girl.)

posted by Senyar 05 November | 07:03

Oh, for pete's sake. Took me a while but: "After trying other names including..."The Silver Beatles", the band finally became "The Beatles" in August [1960]." Neat!

posted by Kronos_to_Earth 06 November | 08:43

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