after by collectors for their bright metallic colors.

These are most pronounced in members of the

tribe Rutelinae, which includes the Neotropical

jewel chafers, genus Chrysina, which inhabit

mountain cloud forests of South and particularly

Central America, and many of which have a

striking gold or silver reflection. The Australian

to imagine the advantage of being

seemingly so conspicuous, for a beetle that

aims to avoid predators, but in the dappled

light and shade of a tropical cloud-forest

canopy, or resting on moving leaves that

also hold multiple droplets of water, the

reflective surfaces of adult Chrysina can

make them surprisingly difficult to see

left | Chrysina aureola The genus

Chrysina, the jewel chafers, includes

some of the most metallic of all

beetles. This one is from Ecuador.

Christmas beetles, genus Anoplognathus, can be

almost as brightly metallic, and can be found in

suburban areas. They earn their name from their

emergence around Christmas, at the height of the

Australian summer, and possibly also for their

resemblance to Christmas-tree baubles. They may

be declining in some areas.

right | Kibakoganea formosana

A species of horned leaf chafer

from Taiwan. Only the males

have long projections on the

mandibles like this.