Description

Incredible natural art, the sparkly, Scarlet-head Jewel beetle from Thailand.

This amazing piece of natural art is a seriously attractive Jewel beetle!  Its sparkly, red head looks like the ruby slippers Dorothy wore in the Wizard of Oz.  The metallic purple often found on its abdomen and wing covers (elytra), and the soft cream color on the rest of the wing covers make this a stunning specimen.

It’s hard not to wonder about the forces at work in Natural selection to bring forth these amazing creatures.  To imagine that looking like this somehow helps this beetle survive, or at least doesn’t hurt its chances enough to warrant change, is just amazing to me.

The Jewel Beetles, or Metallic wood-boring beetles belong to a family of beetles known as Buprestidae.  They are called Jewel beetles because of their very bright, colorful, metallic, irridescent bodies; and as a result, they are often sought after by collectors.  The elytra, or wing-covers, are sometimes used to make jewelry because of their incredible shine and color.

Glass dome itself is 4″ x 4″.

.