Psilothrix viridicoerulea

Psilothrix viridicoerulea
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Hexapoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Family:	Melyridae
Subfamily:	Dasytinae
Genus:	Psilothrix
Species:	P. viridicoerulea
Binomial name
	Psilothrix viridicoerulea; (Geoffroy, 1785)
Synonyms
	Melyris cyanea Olivier, 1790; Cicindela viridicoerulea Geoffroy, 1785; Lagria caerulea Fabricius, 1792; Lagria viridis Rossi, 1792; Melyris nobilis Illiger, 1798; Tillus aenea Marsham, 1802;

Psilothrix viridicoerulea is a species of soft-winged flower beetle belonging to the family Melyridae, subfamily Dasytinae. ^[1]

Distribution edit

This beetle is mainly present in most of Europe (Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Croatia, France, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Malta, North Macedonia, Slovenia, Sweden and Switzerland) and in the Near East. ^[2] There are also additional localized populations in England, mostly on the southern coastline.

Habitat edit

They are quite common in summer on meadows, pastures, and grasslands, to be seen on a variety of flowers.

Description edit

The adults grow up to 4.8–6.6 millimetres (0.19–0.26 in) long. ^[3] The colour of this beautiful insect is brilliant metallic bluish-green. Body is rather long and narrow. Head is slightly longer than wide, with a flat face, large, round eyes and short, green-metallic, hairy antennae, composed by eleven short inwards protruding articles. Pronotum and elytra are thickly, deeply and strongly punctuated and covered of black erect hairs. Elitra are very elongated, square at the base. Legs are long and slender, greenish and hairy. ^[3] Pygidium (last male tergite) shows a deep but small V-shaped notch.^[4] This species is rather similar to Psilothrix aureola. ^[4]

Biology edit

The larvae initially feed on dead insects, then become phytophagous. They bore longitudinal galleries in the stems of some annual weeds (Ferula, Magydaris, Carlina, Cirsium, etc.). Metamorphosis takes place in late winter within. The adults leave the pupal chamber in following spring. This species is often associated with graminaceous grasses.^[4]