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Selatosomus aeneus · žaliasis rugiaspragšis

Diacanthus aeneus, Corymbites aeneus EN · green click beetle DE · Glanzschnellkäfer LT · žaliasis rugiaspragšis LV · spīdīgais sprakšķis PL · ponęc lśniący

Length 11to 17 mm. A large, metallic species with wide pronotum and elytra and no obvious covering of hairs. Colour ranges from green/gold to green/purple. Ridges are obvious down the length of the elytra. The legs are dark brown/black in colour and the antennae are the length of the pronotum.

Females are very fecund, producing between 300 and 650 eggs which are laid on emerging grass leaves, among leaf-litter or in cracks in the soil. The eggs develop slowly with larvae emerging after four or five weeks, the young larvae move among the soil or litter seeking out conditions of optimal temperature and humidity before they begin to feed upon roots and young shoots etc. and they are also known to consume small insects and larvae, as they grow they move between plants on the surface or through the soil. Development takes between two and four years.