Chiloloba

Chiloloba acuta is a species of flower chafer beetle and is the sole member of its genus. It is widely distributed in the Indian subcontinent.

Note the medial ridge on the elytra

Chiloloba
Chiloloba acuta
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Coleoptera
Family:
Scarabaeidae
Subfamily:
Cetoniinae
Genus:
Chiloloba

Species:
C. acuta
Binomial name
Chiloloba acuta
(Wiedemann, 1823)
Synonyms

Cetonia perplexa

These beetles are often shiny with short hairy surfaces both above and below. The clypeus has a median keel. The adult beetles are shiny metallic green and can sometimes appear red or deep blue. They are clothed in hairs irregularly on the upperside but more densely on the sides and underside. The elytra are raised into a ridge along the edge where they meet towards the hind end of the body. A fine ridge extends from the forehead to the tip of the clypeus. The species is commonly seen on grasses in southern India after the northeast monsoon.[1] Adults will sometimes feed on cultivated cereal and millet crops such as sorghum and maize, damaging flowers and grain. It is rarely a serious pest.[2]


The difference in the foods that the adult Chiloloba and the immature stages of Chiloloba eat, indicate the different key roles that they play. For example, with adult Chiloloba, feeding on the inflorescence of S. bicolor, Z.mas, H.contorous and A. mutica, this “indicates that the emergence of beetles coincides with the flowering period of its host plants.” [3] However, what the immature stages of the Chiloloba feed on, decaying organic matter, plays an important role in the, “enrichment of soil nutrients, especially in recycling of organic waste of plant and animal origin and help in the enrichment of soil nutrients, especially in the red and brown soil where primary decomposers are scarce.” [4]

References
  1. Arrow, GJ (1910). The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Coleoptera. Lamellicornia. London: Taylor and Francis. pp. 17 1–172.
  2. Fletcher, TB (1914). "Some South Indian Insects". Government Press, Madras: 284. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. Kumbhar (2012). "Biology of Chiloloba Orientalis". Journal of Insect Science. 12 (127): 1–15. doi:10.1673/031.012.12701. PMC 3637042. PMID 23448133.
  4. Kumbhar (2012). "Biology of Chiloloba Orientalis". Journal of Insect Science. 12 (127): 1–15. doi:10.1673/031.012.12701. PMC 3637042. PMID 23448133.

[1]


  1. Kumbhar (2012). "Biology of Chiloloba Orientalis". Journal of Insect Science. 12 (127): 1–15. doi:10.1673/031.012.12701. PMC 3637042. PMID 23448133.
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