{"id":4494,"date":"2025-07-27T13:54:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T13:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/?p=4494"},"modified":"2026-06-27T13:56:51","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T13:56:51","slug":"2025-07-shimmering-leaf-beetle-of-nono-en","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/posts\/2025-07-shimmering-leaf-beetle-of-nono-en\/","title":{"rendered":"Andean look-alikes: The shimmering leaf beetle of Nono"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Leaf beetles (family <em>Chrysomelidae<\/em>) are one of the most successful and diverse insect lineages on the planet, boasting between 35,000 and 40,000 described species worldwide. As their name implies, they are entirely phytophagous, feeding on plant tissue and easily adapting to new habitats, including human-altered landscapes. I encountered this striking specimen during a walk through Nono, nestled in the Andean highlands of Ecuador just a short bus ride from Quito. It bears a remarkable resemblance to the European alder leaf beetle (<em>Agelastica alni<\/em>), which is not native to South America. It is almost certainly a native Neotropical look-alike from the same subfamily, <em>Galerucinae<\/em>\u2014though in our hyper-connected world, one cannot help but wonder if global transport has allowed an adventurous hitchhiker to bridge the continents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leaf beetles (family Chrysomelidae) are one of the most successful and diverse insect lineages on the planet, boasting between 35,000 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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