A preliminary survey of ultraviolet reflectance in beetles

Ultraviolet reflectance is a widely distributed phenomenon among certain families of Coleoptera. It is so far found to occur in Carabidae, Scarabaeidae, Buprestidae, Elateridae, Tenebrionidae, Cerambycidae, Anthribidae and Curculionidae. Of more than 100 species examined, 70 were found to possess UV reflectant structures. Reflection is almost always from pigments contained within microtrichia or other setae. In some Tenebrionidae and Buprestidae, dried secretions forming patches or stripes on the pronota and elytra are reflective and, in a few desert-living Tenebrionidae, reflectance is from subcuticular pigment in the elytra.