#meliboeus

Meliboeus amethystinus is easily recognizable due to its striking deep blue color (hence the name), but this one had some mysterious purple hues going on. it was definitely not just iridescence, although i can attest that the sun was trying to kill us both

finding one of my rare local buprestids like Meliboeus gibbicollis here is exciting not only because they're an example of unique endemic fauna that makes me appreciate my area's ecosystem but for the same reason finding any buprestid is exciting: puppy face

the obvious reason to avoid handling wild animals if possible is the risk of injury (to either party, depending), but a bonus incentive to leave them alone is that usually a natural background looks nicer in a photo than your gross veiny wrinkly hand. in the case of this Meliboeus amethystinus though, at least those colors pop a lot more against my skin than they would against a leaf

just about the only buprestid around here that lives up to the jewel beetle name, the strikingly blue and appropriately named Meliboeus amethystinus is a relatively elongated little beetle (though not as much as their more famous Agrilus cousins, for example) that seems especially drawn to thistles. they are slow but shy, and their host plant's obvious spiky nature makes it difficult to chase them around, but i managed to get this shot of one before it noticed me

Meliboeus gibbicollis is a tiny buprestid that doesn't really live up to its relatives' colors but still has the classic turtleneck and baby face and is very special nonetheless. with a very small and fragmented range (there are 9 observations of it on inaturalist and one third of them are mine), this is one of my rarest finds. buprestid IDers jumped at the opportunity to ID this little thing when i thought it was just some guy

as you can see i tested the waters at first by putting my hand underneath it because a beetle is a beetle and i wasn't willing to miss out on a rare observation thanks to typical slippery beetle bullshit. thankfully no grabbing was necessary