Jewel Beetles of Zihuatanejo

• Animals (Kingdom Animalia)

• Arthropods (Phylum Arthropoda)

• Hexapods (Subphylum Hexapoda)

• Insects (Class Insecta)

• Winged and Once-winged Insects (Subclass Pterygota)

• Beetles (Order Coleoptera​​)

• Water, Rove, Scarab, Long-horned, Leaf, and Snout Beetles (Suborder Polyphaga)

• Elateriform Beetles (Infraorder Elateriformia)

• Superfamily Buprestoidea

• Jewel Beetles (Family Buprestidae)

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Family Buprestidae comprises the jewel beetles or metallic wood-boring beetles. These beetles are famous for their brilliant metallic colors, which may shimmer in shades of emerald green, sapphire blue, copper, gold, purple, or iridescent combinations. Adults are typically hard-bodied and elongated or bullet-shaped, adaptations that help them move through bark and vegetation. The larvae, commonly known as flatheaded borers, usually develop within the wood, bark, stems, or roots of trees and shrubs, where they feed on plant tissues.