Celestial Fighter
- It is possible that at some walk by a stream, at the end of a stem or plant, a “bright blue button” has been seen. It is also possible, with curiosity, to approach ... And when you see it closely, surprise yourself. Are there celestial beetles on our land? We often see documentaries full of glitter, color and variety of distant fauna, but there is something so curious about us…! Sure, it's small, but jewelry has to be that way.
Oplia coerule
Group: Invertebrate / Insect
Size: 8 mm approx.
Where does he live? In riverside vegetation, or nearby.
What do you eat? We don't know because their biology is very little known.
Level of protection: Sponsored in Europe.
The Hoplia coerule is a beetle of interesting life, of coleopterus order. We know more than 300,000 species of this group of insects. Adults of these species can be observed between May and August throughout the active day. Except in this section of mature insects, they live in the subsoil, that is, when they are larvae. By May, males, once fully matured, leave the subsoil and wait for females at the end of a plant or flower. In the title of this article we have called “wrestler”, because the males send kicks to their rivals who want to steal their seal (the “hoplon” that bears on their behalf is a “weapon” in the ancient Greek). To do so, their powerful back legs are always ready to hand out kicks. Thus, the strongest males get the best observation positions, which helps to strengthen the future of the species.
It is not clear what you eat or, rather, what you do not eat. And that's why they've classified it into the group of foods that eat a lot (polyphages).
The males are light blue, with spectacular metallic blue stains. Females, as the Wise Nature has decided in most cases, are low coloration, brown, which favors their survival and that of the species. The number of females, however, is much lower than that of males (some think for every thousand females! ). This abundance of males can be misleading because they can see a lot on a very small surface, due to concentration behavior. Its expansion map indicates the shortage of the species: The lower half of the French State and the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, from Asturias (León). It seems that some copies have also been found in Switzerland. However, it is a clearly preserved species.
The males are truly beautiful and, as unfortunately often happens, that beauty is often a disgrace to them, as, crossed by a needle, it has led them to collectors, many of them.
It is always located in the vicinity of water flows, usually in the riverside vegetation of rivers and streams. These places often undergo changes and degradation, which negatively impacts this beautiful beetle.
