Do these glowing jewelry-like Buprestid beetles seem to be living in a far-away kingdom to you? The truth is that there are many kinds of Buprestid beetles. Literature shows about 200 Buprestid beetles species in Taiwan, and this number does not include the unknown species. Base on an assumption there should be around 300 species of Buprestid beetles in Taiwan. However, these species are either too rare or hard to be discovered due to their small size, their restricted habitats, and people’s limited knowledge about their behaviour.
It’s not easy to find a Buprestid beetle in concrete jungles, but there is one exception. Chrysobothris shirakii is a medium-sized beetle which can be found in urban areas (it’s rather uncommon to find one in mountains).
After a strong typhoon swiped the Tainan city, many trees fell at the sidewalks. The government quickly sent a team of janitors to clean up the mess. There were so many trunks and branches, so the team had to chop them off before transporting them. Many of these trees happened to be the Royal poinciana, the city flower of Tainan and also one of the host plants for the Chrysobothris shirakii.
It did not take long for the adult Chrysobothris shirakii to gather together and to mate around the chopped trees. This was one of the precious moments that we could have a close look at these mysterious creatures. After these trunks were moved away, these magical beetles just vanished in a sudden.
We include pictures of the Chrysobothris shirakii found in that summer. Please check out our book, Jewel Beetles of Taiwan vol.1
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