''Zopherus jourdani'' is a species of

ironclad beetle Zopherinae is a subfamily of beetles, commonly known as ironclad beetles. Together with the subfamily Usechinae, they have been treated historically as a family, but have recently been joined by several additional taxa, making the Zopheridae ...

found in Central America. It is found in Honduras, Costa Rica,

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by ...

, Guatemala,

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

, and

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean Sea, Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to ...

, and has been collected every month of the year from a variety of altitudes ranging from 2500 to 9800 feet. The species plays dead when disturbed, which earned it the name "Durene Niño" in Costa Rica. It lives under the bark of trees, including the

balsa ''Ochroma pyramidale'', commonly known as the balsa tree, is a large, fast-growing tree native to the Americas. It is the sole member of the genus ''Ochroma''. The tree is famous for its wide usage in woodworking, with the name ''balsa'' being ...

and the

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family (biology), family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanic ...

Ability to go without food

The ability of ''Z. jourdani'' to survive for extended periods of time without food is well-documented in several papers and journals; it is known as "Caméleon" in Guatemala because of this ability. In the 1877-'78 '' Annales de la Sociéte Entomologique de Belgique,'' such a demonstration is recorded on the July 6th meeting: “...Mr. J. Rodriguèz brought six examples from Guatemala, kept without food in a box during the since the month of April. Three arrived in Europe still alive.”() Zopherus jourdani sjh

Appearance

Specimens of ''Z. jourdani'' have variable colouration; they are mottled black and white, but the amount of each colour present varies. Light forms from Costa Rica were described by

Champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, ...

in 1874 as ''Z. costaricensis,'' which was synonymized nearly a century later in 1972. Based on measurements recorded by Charles Triplehorn, it is one of the largest species in the genus, '' Z. chilensis'' being the largest. ''Z. jourdani'' has a variable length of between 17.7 and 36 mm, and a width of 6.1–12 mm.

References

{{Reflist Zopheridae Beetles described in 1849 Beetles of Central America