Arthropods • Earth.com

Wavy-spotted jewel beetle

(Acmaeodera pilosellae)

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Description

Acmaeodera pilosellae is a beetle in the jewel beetle family and subfamily Polycestinae. The genus Acmaeodera is represented in Europe with 25 species, which are divided into three subgenera. Acmaeodera pilosellae is included in the subgenus Acmaeodera, which is represented by five species in Europe. The species Acmaeodera pilosellae occurs in Europe only in the subspecies Acmaeodera pilosellae pilosellae. The German name Wavy-spotted jewel beetle can also be found on the Internet. The beetle was first described by Bonelli in 1812 under the name Buprestis pilosellae. The description contains the phrase Mensibus aestivis rara in Pilosellis in Sylva de la Venaria (Latin: rare on Pilosella in the forest of Venaria in the summer months). The species name pilosellae of the beetle is explained by the finds on Pilosella, a hawkweed, in the forest of Venaria (near Turin). However, the beetle can also be found on numerous other flowers. The genus name Acmaeodera goes back to Eschscholtz 1829. He is from altgr. ακμαίος "akmāīos" for "strong" and δέρη "dére" for "neck". Eschscholtz distinguishes the genus from similar genera by the pronotum, which is cut straight at the back. The little-used name Wavy-spotted jewel beetle alludes to the markings on the elytra The beetle is seven to nine millimeters long. Within the genus, it belongs to the only moderately cylindrical species. The head, body and extremities are light copper in colour, while the elytra are yellowish brown to yellow-orange with dark markings along the seam and sides, similar in color to the head and pronotum. The beetle resembles the species Acmaeodera edmundi in coloring and markings. The head, pronotum and base of the elytra are long and shaggy hairy, the hairiness of the elytra is upright behind the base, short, and sparse. Acmaeodera edmundi is darker and the hair is not shaggy in this species. The head is lowered perpendicular to the body axis. Its hair is whitish and predominantly tilted forward. The big eyes are on the side. The relatively short, eleven-membered antennae are serrated from the fourth segment and turned in between the eyes. The pronotum is more than twice as wide as long. On the head it is as wide as this, it has its greatest width in the third quarter and it is noticeably wider there than the elytra.

Taxonomic tree:

Domain:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum:
Class: Insecta
Order:Coleoptera
Family:Buprestidae
Genus:Acmaeodera
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