image: Platerodrilus sp. (Lycidae). An example of a "neotenic" species, retaining some larval features in the adults. The picture shows an undescribed species from the Philippines. Platerodrilus and the closely related Duliticola have been a mysterious group of beetles frequently referred to as "trilobite larvae." In fact, males pupate, their adults are winged and they do not differ from related species in this family which are winged in both sexes. Usual body size of male is about 7 mm. Females, as those seen on the picture, do not pupate and they do not differ from larvae when sexually mature. They can be up to 80 mm long and 20 mm wide and females just hatched from large eggs are 5 mm -- of similar size of conspecific mature male. Until now our knowledge is limited and most species were never formally described. The species in picture is the only in the genus with green metallic coloration. These animals smell and aposematic colouration warns their predators. This image relates to an article that appeared in the Dec. 21, 2007, issue of the journal Science, published by AAAS. The study, by Dr. Toby Hunt and colleagues at Natural History Museum in London, UK, was titled "A Comprehensive Phylogeny of Beetles Reveals the Evolutionary Origins of a Superradiation." view more
Credit: Image © Science