''Sternocera aequisignata'' is a species of jewel beetles belonging to the subfamily Julodinae. Its bright metallic green elytra are frequently used

jewellery making Jewellery (British English, UK) or jewelry (American English, U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, ring (jewellery), rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be at ...

Description

''Sternocera aequisignata'' can reach a length of about . Elytra and pronotum have a beautiful metallic

emerald Emerald is a gemstone and a variety of the mineral beryl (Be3Al2(SiO3)6) colored green by trace amounts of chromium or sometimes vanadium.Hurlbut, Cornelius S. Jr. and Kammerling, Robert C. (1991) ''Gemology'', John Wiley & Sons, New York, p ...

iridescence. Pronotum is densely punctured.

Distribution

This species occurs across southern Asia, including

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

to southern

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...

.GBIF
''Sternocera aequisignata'' Saunders, 1866

Lifecyle

The female lays eggs singly in soil at the base of the host plants. Each female is capable of laying 5–12 eggs, which take 2 months to hatch. The hatched larva has five

instar An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'', "form", "likeness") is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each moult (''ecdysis''), until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow o ...

stages. Stages 1 to 4 remain in the soil for 3–4 months where they feed upon the roots of the adult host plants. The 5th instar can be found above ground, until it returns underground again to pupate. Adult beetles have a short lifespan of 1–3 weeks, though the complete life cycle takes up to two years.

Relationship to humans

As food

''S. aequisignata'' and the similar '' S. ruficornis'' are both consumed by humans as a source of food in northern

, Laos, and China. This is one of the major sources of their decline in that area.

In jewellery making

The bright metallic green elytra of ''S. aequisignata'' are collected and used as a material in

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q6670426 Buprestidae Beetles described in 1866 Beetles of Asia Edible insects Taxa named by Edward Saunders (entomologist)