Family Scarabaeidae - Agestrata luzonica

Agestrata luzonica
Range: southeast Asia
Size: 40 - 45 mm

Agestrata luzonica is a large, metallic green cetoniine scarab found in Malaysia and other areas of southeast Asia. There are a number of other species which occur across southeast Asian and Indonesia, and all are rather similar in appearance. These beetles are rather slow moving, and have very flattened bodies, probably adapted for moving easily between the petals of the flowers upon which they feed. The exoskeleton is very smooth in texture, and has the look and feel of highly polished metal. Agestrata utilizes structural colouration, that is, its colors are essentially due to how the insect's body reflects light, and are not created by pigmentation. Adults feed on fruit as well as pollen and nectar from flowers. The larvae, like those of many other cetoniinae, live in decaying logs and stumps.

Agestrata is certainly among one of the largest and most brilliantly coloured of all metallic cetoniines. Note the distinctive, elongated head with prominent eyes and flattened clypeus (the shield-shaped plate which covers the insect's mouth parts).

Agestrata luzonica - Image © C. Campbell

There is not much difference in appearance between the male and female of A. luzonica, and so identification can be difficult to those not familiar with the minor dissimilarities. Most notably, the female is the somewhat larger of the two, which is rather unusual, because the situation is reversed in most other scarab species.

A slightly different view of the same specimen pictured in the first photo. The true shine of this metallic insect can be rather hard to capture on film. One really must see it in person to fully appreciate its spectacular colouration.