Zopherus jourdani is a species of ironclad beetle found in Central America. It is found in Honduras, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, and Nicaragua,[2][3][1] and has been collected every month of the year from a variety of altitudes ranging from 2500 to 9800 feet.[1] The species plays dead when disturbed, which earned it the name "Durene Niño" in Costa Rica. It lives under the bark of trees, including the balsa and the pine.[1][4]
| Zopherus jourdani | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Coleoptera |
| Family: | Zopheridae |
| Genus: | Zopherus |
| Species: | Z. jourdani
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| Binomial name | |
| Zopherus jourdani Sallé, 1849
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| Synonyms[1] | |
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Zopherus jourdanii
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Ability to go without food
editThe ability of Z. jourdani to survive for extended periods of time without food is well-documented in several papers and journals; it is known as "Caméleon" in Guatemala because of this ability.[1][5][4] In the 1877-'78 Annales de la Sociéte Entomologique de Belgique, such a demonstration is recorded on the July 6th meeting: “...Mr. J. Rodriguèz brought six examples from Guatemala, kept without food in a box during the since the month of April. Three arrived in Europe still alive.”(French: M. J. Rodriguez vient d'en apporter de Guatemala six examplaires, demeurés sans nourriture dans un boîte depuis le mois d'Avril. Trois sont arrivés encore vivants en Europe.)[4]
Appearance
editSpecimens of Z. jourdani have variable colouration; they are mottled black and white, but the amount of each colour present varies. Light forms from Costa Rica were described by Champion in 1874 as Z. costaricensis,[6][1] which was synonymized nearly a century later in 1972.[1] Based on measurements recorded by Charles Triplehorn, it is one of the largest species in the genus, Z. chilensis being the largest. Z. jourdani has a variable length of between 17.7 and 36 mm, and a width of 6.1–12 mm.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h Triplehorn, Charles (1972). "A Review of the Genus Zopherus of the World (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae)" (PDF). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology. 108: 14.
- ^ "Zopherus jourdani". iNaturalist. Retrieved 2022-08-12.
- ^ ondrej.zicha(at)gmail.com, Ondrej Zicha. "BioLib: Biological library". www.biolib.cz. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
- ^ a b c Annales de la Société entomologique de Belgique (in French). Société entomologique de Belgique. 1877.
- ^ The Zoological Record: Insecta. John Van Voorst. 1869.
- ^ Godman, Frederick Du Cane; Salvin, Osbert (1893). Biologia Centrali-americana: Zoology, Botany and Archaeology. editors.