Displayed in a deep "distressed" shadowbox frame, are three of the most gorgeous Jewel Scarab beetles on Earth! The large center beetle is considered the most beautiful in the tribe, with it's rich reddish browns floating in a sea of green chartreuse that just glows in certain light! This is a huge female specimen for the species, named after Queen Victoria, Chrysina victorina. Said to be one of the first described of the American jewel scarabs, as well as the largest.
She is flanked by the United States "most beautiful beetle", Chrysina gloriosa. These have liquid lines of silver set in the emerald green body. Appropriately called the "glorious" beetle [And it does glorify it's Creator!], it is only found in certain valleys in the extreme Southwestern US.
Scientists are studying the incredible beauty of these beetles and have found the colors are produced by hexagonal structures similar to "liquid crystals" formed in the development of the chitin in the insect's exoskeleton. They have tried to duplicate this without success! The circular light polorization quality that these beetles exhibit is very rare in the animal kingdom. Again, we see amazing design...which we like to say always points to a Designer! [Romans 1:20 '...though many may deny Him, they are without excuse on the day of judgement because "His invisible attributes are clearly seen" in the whole creation which surrounds them.]
The fact that these jeweled beetles reflect circular polarization was identified in the early 1900s by a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, A.A. Michelson, who hypothesized that the circular polarization might result from a “screw structure” within the insect’s cuticle, but he did not elaborate on it further. The solidified structures produced from a cholesteric liquid crystal and its defects on the beetle’s shell reflect bright green light with a wavelength of 530 nanometers mixed with yellow light in a wavelength of 580 nanometers.
"The most dramatic way to get saturated color is through what this beetle does with the circularly-polarized light,” Srinivasarao said. “The reflection is very metallic and angle-dependent, and this is due to the helical pitch of the cholesteric liquid crystal.”
Sunlight normally contains light in equal quantities with a left circular polarization and a right circular polarization. The jewel beetle’s exoskeleton, however, reflects only light with a left circular polarization. Only a few members of the scarab family of beetles reflect both polarizations.
Species: Chrysina victorina and Chrysina gloriosa
Location: Victorina: Oaxaca, Mexico Gloriosa: Southern Arizona
Frame Size: Aprox: 9in. X 9 in.
Cost: $155
Shipping/handling: $20
{Sale! $130 + $20 = $150 total cost...} | 
