SoCal LARGE Blue (Flying?) Beetle

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malama Apr 23, 2014

Hi everyone!

I am seeking information on a bug I encountered some 20 years ago when I spent a year living in S. Orange County, CA back in the early 1990s. When I first moved there, I found a dead bug that was so beautiful that I still think of it to this day. But when I try to search for it online I come up empty handed.

The bug appeared to be a large June Beetle - about an inch long.
It had a gorgeous, metallic bright BLUE color - not green like I see online.

Although I find lots of mentions & photos of large, metallic GREEN June Beetles in the Southwest states, this one was vivid blue. I think I found it when it was dead and it was so gorgeous that I kept it. I put it out on the balcony, and unfortunately it blew away. I still recall its intense, bright blue color and large size. Since I cannot find any info on large BLUE beetles like this in the region, I wonder if this specimen I had was originally green when alive, then maybe turned blue after death?

Any info would be helpful on this large, blue beetle from California. I have include pictures of beetles I found online that have basically the same color and appearance as the one I'm describing. Thanks!!

This message was edited Apr 23, 2014 6:04 PM

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Flapdoodle Minot, ND Apr 23, 2014

It's too bad that you were unable tom photograph your specimen before it disappeared. I am unaware of any bright blue scarab beetles in California, and although I've seen many, many specimens of green June beetles, I've never seen any that turned blue after death. All that aside, here's a beetle in a different family that is blue, and might occur in your area - http://www.richard-seaman.com/Wallpaper/Nature/Beetles/GreyValleyOfFireBeetle.jpg

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malama Apr 23, 2014




Thank you kindly for the response.

No, it didn't look like that pic you linked. It looked just like the gleaming, metallic, beetles in my above post...and just like the June Bug pic below, only brilliant blue. It was incredibly beautiful, and after it blew off the balcony I went down in the flower bed below and looked for it - I had wanted to maybe put it in a frame it against a white background or possibly make a pendant out of it in some way (I was a teenager lol).

I really wish I could figure out why this huge scarab was bright blue. It seems to be very rare, as I can find no info about such a large beetle with a bright blue color in that part of the world. :-/

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