The sun following some pretty serious rain has brought out the insects in numbers. Notably the Dock Leaf Beetle (Gastrophysa viridula). This beetle is small, about 4mm long, but comes in a stunning metallic green. Being spring, a beetles thoughts turn to breeding, plenty of that was going on. Despite their diminutive size they are easy to spot. Little flashes of iridescence in the longer patches of grass and hedgerow plants. As with a lot of British wildlife the colours rival anything the tropics can throw at you, just a bit smaller.
In the picture the female is at the top, already heavily swollen with eggs. This has not stopped another male chancing his luck with a mating. In fact, a bit of a queue has formed with two other males in waiting. They were not successful as the female took her male off to a more private location under a leaf.
The female will lay eggs on a dock leaf, hence the beetles common name, and the grubs that hatch will feast. After pupating another cycle of breeding starts again. At Right is a picture of a solitary male. In this shot you can really enjoy those colours. The colour is not due to pigments, no chemical is involved. The colour arises from the close spacing of fibres (chitin) on the beetles body. These are so close they interfere with the light shining on them and only reflect certain wavelengths of light. In this case mainly green, but also some red. The beetles are in fact black. It is hard to see the advantage to this colouring. It makes them standout, they are slow movers, don't really fly and are not toxic. Can't be much of a problem however as they are everywhere!
For larger pictures check out my flickr site click here
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