Subject: Two interesting and beautiful bugs in Alaska
Location: Near Fairbanks Alaska
June 5, 2016 5:20 pm
Hello bugperson,
In the past week I have found two beautiful insects around our home in Fairbanks Alaska. I have looked through your site and also consulted Dr. Google, but have not yet been able to figure out what they might be. The yellowish metallic beetle is on an apple leaf. It was perhaps a half inch long. … Thanks for any help you can give me.
Signature: bugalaska
Dear bugalaska,
Your second beetle is a Click Beetle in the family Elateridae, and we quickly identified it as a Green Click Beetle, Nitidolimonius resplendens, thanks to a BugGuide posting where it is described as “The head, pronotum and underside are metallic purple and the elytra and legs are metallic green most of the time, but with a change in the light angle, the elytra edges turn purple. At other angles, the beetle is black, especially the underside, so it’s very hard to photograph.” According to BugGuide, the habitat is: “variously-aged coniferous, deciduous, and mixed forests; on poplar (Populus), willow (Salix), or on shrubs; adults often found on the spring growth of conifers along margins of wetlands and drainages; boreomontane forest, prairie and parkland poplar groves; larvae in leaf litter and rotting wood.”
Thank you so much for the identification and got all the additional information! You provide such a wonderful service to bug fanciers everywhere!