Anvancy Photography

One of the unique Jewel Beetles that we witnessed during our trail.
Buprestidae, subfamily Agrilinae, tribe Coraebini.
Raireshwar Plateau, Bhor Pune.
Aug 24.

Transformation from young to adult.
What you see is the transformation of the Craspedonta leayana beetle from the pupa stage to the complete adult form.
As it is coming out, it is leaving its pupa behind and the exoskeleton is yellow in color. As it gets exposed to air the shell hardens and then it turns to full black which is the second photo.

These beetles are considered to be ferocious pests and you can make this out in the third photo. The larva ferociously eats the leaves such that they are not completely "eaten" destroying the leaves which ultimately destroy the tree.

Sinhagad Valley.
August 2024.

Speaking about living in your f***s?

Well that's precisely what this leaf beetle larva is doing. While the actual reason why evolution has chosen this step is not fully known, none the less, this leaf beetle larva is pretty busy well eating leaves.

While its busy it needs some sort of protection from its predators. So it has chosen an unconventional way of protecting itself by storing its f***s inside its body/jelly like body. This p**p storage helps to create what we can call a "f***l shield" to evade predators.

Leaf Beetle Larva.
Sinhagad Valley, Pune, Maharashtra.
Aug 2024.
1.5x magnification.

We found another Vine Snake and this one was patient enough to give us different types of portraits.

Taken with Raynox 250.