''Entimus imperialis'', common name Brazilian diamond beetle, is a species of broad-nosed weevils belonging to the family

true weevil True most commonly refers to truth, the state of being in congruence with fact or reality. True may also refer to: Places * True, West Virginia, an unincorporated community in the United States * True, Wisconsin, a town in the United States * T ...

and the

Entiminae The Entiminae are a large subfamily in the weevil family Curculionidae, containing most of the short-nosed weevils, including such genera as ''Entimus'', ''Otiorhynchus'', ''Phyllobius'', ''Sitona'', and '' Pachyrrhynchus''. In comparison with ...

subfamily.

Description

''Entimus imperialis'' can reach a length of about . The basic colour is black. Elytra are strongly convex and laterally compressed, punctured with longitudinal rows of golden-green dots, filled with scales composed by crystals of chitin and resembling little diamonds (hence the common name). Diamond beetles are also used for ladies' jewelry. The scales of ''Entimus imperialis'' appears iridescent (i.e., exhibit colour changes with viewing angle) because of the presence of three-dimensional

photonic crystal A photonic crystal is an optical nanostructure in which the refractive index changes periodically. This affects the propagation of light in the same way that the structure of Crystal structure, natural crystals gives rise to X-ray crystallograp ...

s. Olivier Deparis and Jean-Pol Vigneron
Modeling the photonic response of biological nanostructures using the concept of stratified medium: The case of a natural three-dimensional photonic crystal
Mater. Sci. Eng. B-Adv. 169, 12–15 (2010).Bodo D. Wilts, Kristel Michielsen, Jeroen Kuipers, Hans De Raedt and Doekele G. Stavenga
Brilliant camouflage: photonic crystals in the diamond weevil, Entimus imperialis
(29 February 2012)Sébastien Mouchet, Jean-François Colomer, Cédric Vandenbem, Olivier Deparis and Jean-Pol Vigneron
Method for modeling additive color effect in photonic polycrystals with form anisotropic elements: the case of ''Entimus imperialis'' weevil
Optics Express 21(11), 13228-13240 (2013). This characteristics is probably used as a camouflage and to facilitate intersexual recognition. File:Scales covering Entimus imperialis' elytra.jpg, Iridescent scales on ''Entimus imperialis'' File:Entimus imperialis' photonic crystal.jpg, Electron micrograph of the three-dimensional

s within the scales on ''Entimus imperialis''

Distribution

This species can be found in southwest Brazil as an endemic species.

References

Universal biological Indexer

Wired.com

External links

Entimus imperialis on Flickr
Beetles described in 1771 imperialis Taxa named by Johann Reinhold Forster {{Entiminae-stub