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Friday, June 22, 2007

Small blue beetle: Bruchinae


The turquoise-y grey color of this tiny (not more than 2mm) beetle perched at the tip of a waxflower leaf caught my eye, but it also has an interesting body shape (well, for what I can see of it with my old eyes). The thickened femur, on all the legs but especially on the hind leg, and the angle between the femur and the tibia gives this beetle an oddly un-buglike stance. The antennae are slightly flattened and have many segments. This beetle is a member of the subfamily Bruchinae, known as the seed or pea weevils. However, they are not weevils but are classified in the larger family of leaf beetles. Thanks for the info, Bugguide.

If I were this small, what could I resolve with my human eyes? Could I make out those flowers across the yard, or over the fence or would they melt into an unfocused blur just a few feet beyond my snout? Would the resolution conversion be in direct proportion to the size reduction (about 1/885 in my case), or does atmospheric density come into play? Would things be recognizable once they are hundreds of times their normal size, or would I simply not see them due to their enormity. What am I not seeing now, all of my five feet two inches, because it's just too too big to see?

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