“This cute and colorful little beetle was filmed in the Amazon rainforest of Ecuador,” explains the late physicist, biologist, and photographer Andreas Kay in the caption of this 2019 leaf beetle video. Watch as the beetle sits, dog-like, for a brief moment and then noms on what it finds on its leaf.
“It is about 6 mm in length and belongs to… the leaf beetle family Chrysomelidae, Cryptocephalinae. These warty beetles are supposed to mimic caterpillar droppings, which gives them an advantage in the struggle for survival by protecting them from being eaten by birds, but which caterpillar leaves shiny fuchsia and purple droppings?”
Explore more warty leaf beetles at BugGuide.net.
Watch more beetles, more from Ecuador, more from Andreas Kay, and more from the Amazon Rainforest on TKSST:
• A tortoise beetle taking off in slow motion
• Jewel bugs and beetles take off in slow motion
• The Jewel Caterpillar (Minacraga argentata) of Ecuador
• How to make a pitfall trap
• Catching butterflies with the longest butterfly net in the world
• Butterflies that drink turtle tears for the salt content
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