THREE COLORS OF THE CRYPTOCEPHALUS SERICEUS

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On the following photograph ... you can see three beetles ...

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... of the same species ... the Cryptocephalus sericeus ...

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... the green ones are mating ... and they are practically the norm when it comes to the look of this insect, I saw the blue one only a couple of times in my life ... and photographed it in those few occasions, like in 2015 ad example, when these shots were taken.

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The males and females are usually metallic green ... with more or less orange and yellow metallic reflections ...

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... on this one you can see plenty of that kind of reflection.

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I was wondering what is the blue one, male or female ...

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... and a bit later ... when it got the chance to disrupt the green couple ...

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... it was revealed that it is a male.

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Here is another ordinary green couple, photographed on the same kind of plant - the thistle, in 2011.

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Always on the same plant, in the same habitat - the coastal meadow ...

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... during the summer of 2018, I saw this situation ...

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... with the blue female.

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Here you can see some small wild bee buzzing around the scene.

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Besides these variations, there is another color that makes this a three - color post.

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Only once ...

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... in May 2013 ...

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... I found this shiny copper variation.

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Just much later ... today, while preparing this post ...

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... I noticed a little detail on this insect.

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Some minuscule mite ... so I cropped it.

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And that's it ...

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... as always in these posts on HIVE, the photographs are my work.

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12 comments
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Hi borjan,

This post has been upvoted by the Curie community curation project and associated vote trail as exceptional content (human curated and reviewed). Have a great day :)

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wow ... so beautiful the little beetle crawling on this flower looks so amazing ..

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Great shot of the mite :)

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:D Everything else is just the background for the mite

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Excellent photographic material my friend, truly every photo you take is magnificent. I congratulate you for this work you do, greetings!

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Stunning! Beautiful shots...

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Thanks :) These shiny insects are always photogenic.

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