An Exotic Long-Armed Scarab Beetle (Euchirus longimanus)

One might notice that among the insects I paint I clearly favor the beetle (order – coleoptera).  It’s actually a pretty common favoritism among entomologists and insect enthusiasts.  A famous biologist/naturalist, JBS Haldane once surmised that the Creator must be inordinately fond of beetles.  That said, I offer you a few tidbits about the beetle: The earth is home to easily 350,000+ different species of beetle.  Beetles are a diverse group of insects and inhabit nearly every ecological niche on the planet.  Most can fly and typically have four wings.  The outer two wings are hardened (elytra) and serve as a body cover to protect the flying wings and the abdomen. Beetles begin their life as an egg which hatch into a larvae or grub that goes through a metamorphosis which turns this worm-like creature into an adult with six legs and four wings.  New species are still being discovered regularly.
Exotic beetles are such a fascination in Europe and Japan that they are collected much like coins or stamps. Some enthusiasts often breed them.

This Euchirus longimanus  painting was created using Liquitex acrylic paints, and Prismacolor pencils.

Euchirinae subfamily of the Scarabs is found from Turkey to the Himalayas through much of Indonesia. This subfamily is characterized by the males having very long front legs with a few spines and is from Indonesia.  The females have normal length front legs.