Violin Beetle

Mormolyce phyllodes

"Mormolyce phyllodes", the Violin Beetle, is a species of ground beetles in the subfamily Lebiinae.
Violin Beetle - Mormolyce phyllodes This species is so cool! They reach 100 mm in length and are paper thin. They are predacious and secrete the poisonous butyric acid as a defense mechanism.. Unfortunately, they are horribly difficult to photograph because they are so reflective. *This is a pinned specimen. They are native to Southeast Asia Geotagged,Mormolyce,Mormolyce phyllodes,United States,Violin Beetle,Winter,beetle

Appearance

"Mormolyce phyllodes" can reach a length of 60–100 millimetres. These beetles possess a flat leaf-shaped, shiny black or brown body with distinctive violin-shaped translucent elytra. This characteristic mimicry protects them against predators, while their flat shaped body allow them to dwell in soil cracks or under the bark and leaves of trees. Head and pronotum are very elongated, with long antennae and the legs are long and slender.

Both adults and larvae are predators, feeding on insect larvae. For defense purposes, they secrete the poisonous butyric acid. The larvae live between layers of bracket fungi, genus Polyporus. Their development lasts 8-9 months, while pupation lasts 8-10 weeks. Adults fly from august to november.
2 Violins 2 Violin Beetles on the underside of a big fungi Geotagged,Malaysia,Mormolyce phyllodes,Sarawak,Summer,Violin Beetle

Naming

* "Mormolyce phyllodes borneensis" Gestro, 1875
⤷  "Mormolyce phyllodes engeli" Lieftinck & Wiebes, 1968
⤷  "Mormolyce phyllodes phyllodes" Hagenbach, 1825
Violin Beetle - Mormolyce phyllodes A poor attempt using backlighting, but the holes on the dried leaf allowed more lights to get through making the wings of this Violin Beetle more translucent than expected. Beetle,Malaysia,Mormolyce phyllodes,Penang,Violin Beetle

Distribution

This species can be found in rainforests of Southeast Asia.
Violin Beetle This Violin Beetle - Mormolyce phyllodes is mostly dark brown in colour and is called Violin Beetle due to its body shape. Geotagged,Malaysia,Mormolyce phyllodes,Penang,Spring,beetle,violin beetle

Habitat

This species can be found in rainforests of Southeast Asia.

References:

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Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionArthropoda
ClassInsecta
OrderColeoptera
FamilyCarabidae
GenusMormolyce
SpeciesM. phyllodes
Photographed in
Malaysia
United States of America