Legenary Beetles 01 – Philanthaxia convexifrons

There are only two species of genus Philanthaxia in Taiwan, they are Philanthaxia sauteri and Philanthaxia convexifrons. Both are endemic species.

Philanthaxia sauteri used to be a dream species, but it gradually became less uncommon since people got more knowledge about its host plant. Philanthaxia convexifrons inhabited only on Orchid Island. Ever since it was described, there had not been any formal record . From the binomen “convex + frons”, we could tell that this species had a convex frons of head (comparatively, Philanthaxia sauteri had a rather depressed frons).

Japanese Coleoptera expert Dr. Yoshihiko Kurosawa described Philanthaxia convexifrons in 1954. During that time, only one female beetle was assigned as a holotype. This particular beetle was found on Botel-Tobago Island (now known as the Orchid Island). Without a second thought, we visited the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tsukuba, Japan, hoping to inspect the specimen with our own eyes. We saw the holotype – however, nothing more than some brown remains on the mounting pape and a label.

This specimen batch was transported from the old museum building in Tokyo to Tsukuba. It’s understandable that not all specimens were kept in good condition. Though we couldn’t see a specimen of Philanthaxia convexifrons for real, we still had a glimpse of its look based on the early sketches. Maybe we would be able to encounter them someday.
Maybe you will be the one who resolve this legand.

Want to know more about Philanthaxia sauteri? Check out our new book, “Jewel Beetles of Taiwan vol.1”

Reference:
Kurosawa, Y. 1954a. Buprestid-fauna of Eastern Asia, (Coleoptera) (I). Bulletin of the National Science Museum (Tokyo) 1: 29-39.