Strange Trilobite Beetles

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boghaunter1
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Strange Trilobite Beetles

Post by boghaunter1 »

One of the strangest beetles on Earth are the larviform females of the Genus Platerodrilus as described below from Wikipedia.

Platerodrilus is a genus of beetles of the family Lycidae. They commonly appear in the literature under the name Duliticola, which is an obsolete junior synonym.[1] The females retain a larval form as adults (larviform females) and are about 40–80 mm in length. The females and larvae have a flattened, dark body with large scales over the head, resembling trilobites, hence the informal names trilobite beetle, trilobite larva or Sumatran trilobite larva. In contrast, the males are much smaller, 8–9 mm, resembling other beetles. Species are found in tropical forests of India and South-east Asia.

Although the females resemble the prehistoric trilobite, the trilobite beetle evolved approximately 47 million years ago, 200 million years after trilobites had gone extinct.[2] As only the females have this appearance the search for the species' male remained a mystery until Swedish zoologist Eric Mjoberg published a research paper describing them in 1925.

A good short descriptive video from YouTube:



John K.
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livingplanet3
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Re: Strange Trilobite Beetles

Post by livingplanet3 »

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Eleodes
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Re: Strange Trilobite Beetles

Post by Eleodes »

I've always been fascinated by this genus, but I've only acquired one specimen at this time, a female possible P. ijenensis from West Java.
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Trehopr1
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Re: Strange Trilobite Beetles

Post by Trehopr1 »

Indeed, Have always loved the primordial appearance
these larvae exhibit. Something right out of the Cambrian
or Ordovician periods in the time scale.

This armored appearance is something that from an
evolutionary standpoint works still to this day; millions
upon milliones of earth years after its appearance.

I made it a point to get a couple 2 or 3 of these myself.
Probably the same species ....
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livingplanet3
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Re: Strange Trilobite Beetles

Post by livingplanet3 »

Some footage of Duliticola sp. from a great old documentary, "Kinabalu - Summit of Borneo" (1984) -

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