Genus Buprestis

Classification · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Identification · Range · Food · Remarks · Works Cited

Unknown buprestid? - Buprestis lyrata - female

near Buprestis subornata? - Buprestis lyrata

I found this beetle on Mac Donald Pass outside of Helena Mt. - Buprestis aurulenta

Buprestis aurulenta - Golden Buprestid? - Buprestis aurulenta

Metallic Wood-boring Beetle??? Buprestis confluenta? - Buprestis confluenta

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Coleoptera (Beetles)

Suborder Polyphaga

No Taxon (Series Elateriformia)

Superfamily Buprestoidea

Family Buprestidae (Metallic Wood-boring Beetles)

Subfamily Buprestinae

Tribe Buprestini

Genus Buprestis

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Cypriacis Casey 1909 [NB: treated as genus in (1) but not in (2)]

Explanation of Names

Buprestis Linnaeus 1758

The Romans called some colorful beetles buprestis, borrowed from the Greek Βούπρηστις, literally 'burn-cow', a poisonous beetle, which, ingested by cattle in the grass, causes them to swell up and die -- obviously not a reference to Buprestidae in modern sense, but probably to some kind of blister beetle. (From a Facebook post by Margarethe Brummermann)

Numbers

26 spp. in 5 subgenera in our area(3)(1), ~80 total(2)

Identification

revised in (4)

Range

holarctic (incl. most of NA) and Oriental(2)

Food

Larvae feed on wood of various conifers and deciduous trees, incl. Fagus (Beech), Populus (Cottonwood), Acer (Maple), and Quercus (Oak)(3)

Remarks

member of the subtribe Buprestina Leach 1815 that contains one more genus (in Eurasia)(2)

Works Cited

1.	Bellamy C.L. The Buprestidae of North America (north of Mexico)

2.	Bellamy C.L. (2013) The world of jewel beetles: A checklist of world Buprestoidea

3.	American Beetles, Volume II: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea Arnett, R.H., Jr., M. C. Thomas, P. E. Skelley and J. H. Frank. (eds.). 2002. CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL.

4.	A revision of the genus Buprestis of North America north of Mexico Helfer J.R. 1941. Entomologica Americana (N.S.) 21(3): 123–185.

Contributed by Troy Bartlett on 16 February, 2004 - 12:32pm
Additional contributions by cotinis, Phillip Harpootlian, Mike Quinn, margarethe brummermann, v belov
Last updated 30 June, 2020 - 10:03am

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