Zygogramma leaf beetles, Arizona
Leaf beetles such as these brightly marked Zygogramma constitute one of the largest evolutionary radiations- the Chrysomelidae- among all animals. This family of beetles owes its tremendous diversity to an herbivorous association with flowering plants.
photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon EOS 20D
ISO 100, 1/250 sec, f/13, indirect strobe fired into white box
A personal blog by Illinois-based biologist and photographer Alex Wild.
Friday Ark #226…
We’ll post links to sites that have Friday (plus or minus a few days) photos of their chosen animals (photoshops at our discretion and humans only in supporting roles). Watch the Exception category for rocks, beer, coffee cups, and….? Visit all the …
Zygogramma and the related Calligrapha form a fascinating though spectacularly frustrating group of beetles. Their exquisite, infinitely variable designs at once invite and confound efforts to classify them. All the available keys are useless – the described species seem to have been arbitrarily carved out of a vast sea of hyper-variability.
Okay, maybe not that bad, but they’re tough!