''Anthaxia nitidula'' is a species of jewel beetles belonging to the family

Buprestidae Buprestidae is a family of beetles known as jewel beetles or metallic wood-boring beetles because of their glossy iridescent colors. Larvae of this family are known as flatheaded borers. The family is among the largest of the beetles, with some ...

, subfamily Buprestinae.

Description

The adults are long.Aramel.free
/ref> and are pollinators.
The male is completely metallic green, while the head and pronotum in the female are red and elytra are green. Main host plants of the wood-boring larvae are in the genera ''

Amygdalus ''Prunus'' subg. ''Prunus'' is a subgenus of ''Prunus''. This subgenus includes plums, apricots and bush cherries. Most species inside this subgenus bear fruit that is sugary, storing large amounts of energy, which is why most ''Prunus'' species' ...

'', ''

Crataegus ''Crataegus'' (), commonly called hawthorn, quickthorn, thornapple, Voss, E. G. 1985. ''Michigan Flora: A guide to the identification and occurrence of the native and naturalized seed-plants of the state. Part II: Dicots (Saururaceae–Cornacea ...

'' and '' Prunus''.Host plants of Buprestidae
/ref>

Distribution

This beetle is present in most of Europe, in the eastern Palearctic realm, in the

Near East The ''Near East''; he, המזרח הקרוב; arc, ܕܢܚܐ ܩܪܒ; fa, خاور نزدیک, Xāvar-e nazdik; tr, Yakın Doğu is a geographical term which roughly encompasses a transcontinental region in Western Asia, that was once the hist ...

, and in North Africa.Fauna Europaea
/ref>

Subspecies

*''Anthaxia nitidula nitidula'' (Linnaeus, 1758) *''Anthaxia nitidula signaticollis'' (Krynicky, 1832)

Gallery

File:Anthaxia nitidula (female), Wollenberg, Hesse, Germany - 20110522.ogv, File:Buprestidae - Anthaxia nitidula - female.JPG, Female

References

Buprestidae Beetles of Europe Beetles described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Buprestidae-stub