JungleDragon is a nature and wildlife community for photographers, travellers and anyone who loves nature. We're genuine, free, ad-free and beautiful.

Join

Clanoptilus elegans - male Collage of male Clanoptilus elegans, showing diagnostic details such as shape/colour of antenna segments and excitators at the tip of the elytra. Clanoptilus,Clanoptilus elegans,Cleroidea,Coleoptera,Excitatory glands,Geotagged,Malachiidae,Malachiinae,Melyridae Click/tap to enlarge Species introCountry intro

Clanoptilus elegans - male

Collage of male Clanoptilus elegans, showing diagnostic details such as shape/colour of antenna segments and excitators at the tip of the elytra.

    comments (4)

  1. View Ferdy Christant's profile
    Ferdy Christant
    Lion
    View Lion class
    Great posts, 3 similar beetles in a row yet all different species. Posted 6 years ago
    1. View Pudding4brains's profile
      Pudding4brains
      Lion
      View Lion class
      Hi Ferdy, yes ID-ing these is a fine art. Malachius bipustulatus is the omnipresent species of the bunch so on many fora people just shout that name when they see something similar looking, and of course (due to it being so common) often it is correct, but almost always just a lucky coincidence - not based on actual ID skills ;o)
      Putting things like this one up online might help in the long run:
      Malachius bipustulatus - Female ID help Within the Malachite beetles (Malachiidae) of Europe there are several species that are all bluish-green with red, orange or yellow tips of the elytra. The males can usually be distinguished by the position and shape of their excitators but the females can be very difficult to tell apart.<br /> To properly recognize the female of the very common Malachius bipustulatus a close look at the antennae can be very helpful. The second and third antenna segments are much shorter than the 5th and the 4th is somewhat shorter still but also clearly wider "axe"-shaped (if seen under the right angle).<br /> Also, on many specimen, the fore corners of the pronotum will be slightly reddish (as indicated by !! in the image), but be very aware that all species have reddish skin cushions/bladders just under the pronotum that can be inflated when excited - just barely recognizable in the image and indicated by the question mark. On mediocre images it is usually quite impossible to tell reliably if there is a red corner of the pronotum or not due to the cushion giving a red impression also. Compare this image of the same female where both can be barely told apart (and that is a fairly sharp image):<br /> https://www.jungledragon.com/image/79361/malachius_bipustulatus_-_female_dorsal.html<br /> The antennae of the females of Cordylepherus and Clanoptilus are shaped differently, with the second segment being short but from the 3rd on longer and subequal in length.<br /> (will add images for that later at some point) Cleroidea,Coleoptera,Malachiidae,Malachiinae,Malachite ID help,Malachite beetle,Malachius,Malachius bipustulatus,Melyridae,nl: Roodtipbasterdweekschild

      When I found Clanoptilus elegans as a new species for the Netherlands I sent in some pictures to the experts and was told it should be a yellow form of one of the others. It took me many visits to museum collections in various musea to get my head around how to ID these properly, as the specimen in the collections are also often misidentified *rolleyes*. As a result the "new species fot NL" is still unpublished, because I'm still working on a key to go with the article :-/       Posted 6 years ago, modified 6 years ago
      1. View Ferdy Christant's profile
        Ferdy Christant
        Lion
        View Lion class
        Oh my, I'm a little shocked to hear that museum collections are misidentified, if those can't be trusted...
        And at the same time great admiration for the depth of your specialism, and not letting go!         Posted 6 years ago
  3. View RMFelix's profile
    RMFelix
    Lion
    View Lion class
    Great* Posted 6 years ago

Sign in or Join in order to comment.

The Clanoptilus elegans

''Clanoptilus elegans'' is a species of beetles belonging to the family Melyridae, the soft-winged flower beetles. It is found in Europe.

Info 3 0
Similar species: Beetles
Species identified by Pudding4brains
View Pudding4brains's profile

By Pudding4brains

Public Domain
Uploaded Jun 12, 2019.
country flag of Netherlands Explore Netherlands 8,314 2,306 0

This photo also appears in

Discover more photo collections