Rutelinae or shining leaf chafers is a subfamily of the scarab

beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

s (

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Scarabaeidae). It is a very diverse group; distributed over most of the world, it contains some 200 genera with over 4,000 described

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

in 7 tribes. A few recent classifications include the tribe Hopliini, but this is not generally accepted. Unlike some of their relatives, their

habitus Habitus may refer to: * Habitus (biology), a term commonly used in biology as being less ambiguous than "habit" * Habitus (sociology), embodied dispositions or tendencies that organize how people perceive and respond to the world around them * ' ...

is usually lacking in ornamentation, such as horns. They resemble the

Melolonthinae Melolonthinae is a subfamily of the scarab beetles ( family Scarabaeidae). It is a very diverse group; distributed over most of the world, it contains over 11,000 species in over 750 genera. Some authors include the scarab subfamilies Euchiri ...

in being fairly

plesiomorphic In phylogenetics, a plesiomorphy ("near form") and symplesiomorphy are synonyms for an ancestral character shared by all members of a clade, which does not distinguish the clade from other clades. Plesiomorphy, symplesiomorphy, apomorphy, an ...

in outward appearance. Many species have brilliant or

iridescent Iridescence (also known as goniochromism) is the phenomenon of certain surfaces that appear to gradually change color as the angle of view or the angle of illumination changes. Examples of iridescence include soap bubbles, feathers, butterfl ...

hues, however, such as the genus '' Chrysina'', and a number of species are serious pests (e.g., the Japanese beetle).

References

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1258274 Polyphaga subfamilies Scarabaeidae Taxa named by William Sharp Macleay