White Spotted Metallic Green Beetle - India

Found this beetle on one of my evenings walks in the park. The rains in Delhi seemed to have got a lot of the bug life out into the open. This beetle was busy eating this crushed fruit right in the middle of the walking path. After staring in complete awe of its glorious metallic coat, I placed it away in a safe spot.

comments (8)

Ferdy Christant

Lion

Nice one! Looks like a beetle in the Protaetia genus. Posted 4 years ago
1. Christine Young
  
  Lion
  
  I agree -- maybe either Protaetia wiebesi or Protaetia alboguttata? Posted 4 years ago
2. 1. Ferdy Christant
    
    Lion
    
    Yes, I did spent some time comparing those two, but couldn't find a single unique key. Posted 4 years ago
  2. 1. Christine Young
      
      Lion
      
      Same here. One seems to be a northern species in India, while the other is more southern. But, I don't know if that is diagnostic or not. Posted 4 years ago
    2. 1. Ferdy Christant
        
        Lion
        
        Hmmm, didn't discover that difference, may actually be a good clue! Posted 4 years ago
      2. Christine Young
        
        Lion
        
        Could be, but I'm not sure. Here are distribution maps from iNat:
        
        https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=911234
        https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=733313
        
        Neither seems well documented, but there are some spottings of Protaetia alboguttata in the north. But, those could be misidentified. Or, it could be random.
        
        Posted 4 years ago

Christine Young

Lion

Welcome to JungleDragon! It was nice of you to move it to a safe spot! Posted 4 years ago

Jungle_Inji

Green Fly

I've been trying to get better visual references of this beetle, for a print I'm working on. But didn't have a name to search with. And that's what lead me to Jungle Dragon. So thanks a lot, Christine and Ferdy for identifying the genus. I'm so glad I posted these! :) Posted 4 years ago

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