Chrysina, or jewel scarabs (not to be confused with jewel beetles, which are a different family), is a genus of brightly colored, often metallic iridescent species of ruteline beetles. They range from the southwestern edge of the United States, through Mexico and Central America, and as far south as Colombia and Ecuador. Chrysina contains more than 120 species, and includes all those formerly in the genus Plusiotis.Hawks, D.C. 2001. Taxonomic and nomenclatural changes in Chrysina and a synonymic checklist of species (Scarabaeidae: Rutelinae). Occ. Papers Consort. Coleopt. 4: 1-8 The genus name is from Greek χρύσινος (chrysinos), "gold-coloured".
Distribution and habitat Although the genus is wide-ranging, each species tends to be quite restricted in both habitat and distribution, with the vast majority only found in a single or two countries.
Most species are from Mexico and Central America. The highest diversity is in Mexico and Panama, each being home to more than sixty species; Costa Rica, Guatemala and Honduras also have many species, whereas Belize, El Salvador and Nicaragua each only are known to house one or two species. There are only three species in South America where restricted to western Colombia and western Ecuador, and four species in the United States where restricted to highlands of Arizona, New Mexico and western Texas.
They tend to be found in pine, juniper or pine-oak forests, or in cloud forests, most commonly between elevation, but there are also species found up to or in lowlands.
Behavior The immature stages of most species are unknown, but where known the larvae live in and feed on rotting wood, while the adult beetles feed on foliage. They are harmless to humans and not regarded as pests. The adult beetles are attracted to light during the night.
Appearance These beetles are typically between in length. The majority of species have bright shiny green upperparts, but metallic silver and gold are also common colors (species with all-silver or all-golden upperparts only occur in Central and South America), and a few can be metallic reddish. Some species combine the colors, like the green-and-silver striped C. gloriosa.
They are very popular among collectors; many species are polymorphic. While their value often is quite low, only a few US$, particularly attractive specimens were reported to sell for as much as US$500 in 2007.
Metallic color mechanism Research has shown that the elytra of Chrysina are composed of about 70 chitinous layers of exoskeleton. The different reflective indices and spacing of the layers cause light of different wavelengths to be selectively refracted through them and by them in different phases, leading to a metallic appearance, and also leads to different specimens having different colors.
Species
Chrysina adelaida (Hope, 1841) Chrysina adolphi Chevrolat, 1859 Chrysina alexae Monzón, 2017 Chrysina alfredolaui (Hawks, 1995) Chrysina alphabarrerai (Morón, 1981) Chrysina amalia (Burmeister, 1844) Chrysina antonkozlovi Monzón, 2017 Chrysina arellanoi Monzón, 2012 Chrysina argenteola (H. Bates, 1888) Chrysina aurigans (Rothschild & Jordan, 1894) Chrysina aurilisternum Perez-Flores, Villagomez & Galindo, 2016 Chrysina auripes Gray, 1832 Chrysina aurofoveata (Morón, 1981) Chrysina auropunctata (Ohaus, 1913) Chrysina aurora (Boucard, 1875) Chrysina badeni (Boucard, 1878) Chrysina baileyana Monzón, 2010 Chrysina batesi (Boucard, 1875) Chrysina beckeri H. Bates, 1889 Chrysina benesi Pokorný & Curoe, 2012 Chrysina beraudi (Warner, Hawks & Bruyea, 1992) Chrysina beyeri (Skinner, 1905) Chrysina blackalleri Monzón & García, 2011 Chrysina boucardi (Sallé, 1878) Chrysina brevis (Rothschild & Jordan, 1894) Chrysina bruyeai (Hawks, 1999) Chrysina cavei Hawks & Bruyea, 1999 Chrysina centralis (Morón, 1990) Chrysina chalcothea (H. Bates, 1888) Chrysina chimalapensis Mora-Aguilar, Curoe, Delgado & Ramírez-Ponce 2018 Chrysina chloreis (H. Bates, 1888) Chrysina chrysargyrea (Sallé, 1874) Chrysina chrysopedila (H. Bates, 1888) Chrysina citlaltepetlamayatli (Blackaller-Bages & Delgado, 1994) Chrysina clavellina Monzón, Blackaller, & Hawks, 2020 Chrysina clypealis (Rothschild & Jordan, 1894) Chrysina colima (Morón, 1992) Chrysina confusa (Ohaus, 1913) Chrysina costata (Blanchard, 1850) Chrysina crassimargo (Rothschild & Jordan, 1894) Chrysina cunninghami (Curoe, 1999) Chrysina cupreomarginata (F. Bates, 1904) Chrysina curoei (Warner, LeBlanc, Hawks & Bruyea, 1992) Chrysina cusuquensis (Curoe, 1994) Chrysina dianae (Ratcliffe & Taylor, 1992) Chrysina difficilis (Morón, 1990) Chrysina diversa (Ohaus, 1912) Chrysina donthomasi Monzón & García, 2011 Chrysina dzidorhum (Arnaud, 1994) Chrysina ericsmithi (Monzón & Cano, 1999) Chrysina erubescens H. Bates, 1889 Chrysina expansa (Ohaus, 1913) Chrysina eyai Curoe, 2012 Chrysina falcifera Hawks, 2017 Chrysina flohri (Ohaus, 1905) Chrysina gaitalica Curoe, 2012 Chrysina galbina Hawks, 2017 Chrysina giesberti Monzón, 2010 Chrysina gloriosa (Leconte, 1854) Chrysina gorda Delgado, 2003 Chrysina guatemalensis (Monzón, Cano & Bailey, 1999) Chrysina guaymi (Curoe, 2001) Chrysina halffteri (Morón, 1990) Chrysina hawksi Monzón, 2010 Chrysina howdenorum (Morón, 1990) Chrysina intermedia (Ohaus, 1913) Chrysina juxtaprasina Hawks, 2017 Chrysina kalinini Zubov & Ivshin, 2019 Chrysina karschi (Nonfried, 1891) Chrysina lacordairei (Boucard, 1875) Chrysina laniventris (Sturm, 1843) Chrysina lecontei (Horn, 1882) Chrysina limbata (Rothschild & Jordan, 1894) Chrysina luteomarginata (Ohaus, 1913) Chrysina macropus (Francillon, 1795) Chrysina magnistriata (Morón, 1990) Chrysina maishei Monzón, 2017 Chrysina marginata (Waterhouse, 1871) Chrysina mercedesae Barria, 2022 Chrysina miguelangeli Nogueira & Curoe, 2012 Chrysina misteca (Morón, 1990) Chrysina modesta (Sturm, 1843) Chrysina moroni (Curoe & Beraud, 1994) Chrysina nogueirai (Morón, 1992) Chrysina ofidiodontophallica Curoe, 2011 Chrysina optima (H. Bates, 1888) Chrysina oreicola (Morón, 1992) Chrysina orizabae (H. Bates, 1889) Chrysina pastori (Curoe, 1994) Chrysina paulseni Hawks, 2017 Chrysina pehlkei (Ohaus, 1930) Chrysina peruviana Kirby, 1828 Chrysina plusiotina (Ohaus, 1912) Chrysina porioni Monzón & Hawks, 2020 Chrysina prasina (Boucard, 1878) Chrysina pricei Hawks, 2020 Chrysina prototelica (Morón & Howden, 1992) Chrysina psittacina (Sturm, 1843) Chrysina purpurata (Morón, 1990) Chrysina purulhensis (Monzón & Warner, 1993) Chrysina quetzalcoatli (Morón, 1990) Chrysina quiche (Morón, 1990) Chrysina ratcliffei (Morón, 1990) Chrysina resplendens (Boucard, 1875) Chrysina robackeri Hawks, 2020 Chrysina rodriguezi (Boucard, 1878) Chrysina sagacita Hawks, 2017 Chrysina sallaei (Boucard, 1875) Chrysina schusteri (Monzon, Cano & Bailey, 1999) Chrysina sirenicola (Solís & Morón, 1995) Chrysina spectabilis (Ratcliffe & Jameson, 1992) Chrysina strasseni (Ohaus, 1924) Chrysina tapantina (Morón, 1992) Chrysina taylori (Morón, 1990) Chrysina tecunumani (Cano & Morón, 1995) Chrysina terroni (Morón, 1990) Chrysina transvolcanica (Morón & Nogueira, 2016) Chrysina tricolor (Ohaus, 1922) Chrysina triumphalis Morón, 1990 Chrysina tuerckheimi (Ohaus, 1913) Chrysina valentini Zubov & Ivshin, 2019 Chrysina veraguana (Ohaus, 1922) Chrysina victorina (Hope, 1841) Chrysina woodi (Horn, 1884) Chrysina woodruffi Monzón, 2017 Chrysina xalixteca (Morón, 1992) Chrysina zapoteca (Morón, 1990)
References
External links Generic Guide to New World Scarab Beetles