Southern and central Europe, the Mediterranean region, the Balkans, Anatolia and parts of western Asia.
Fine-art photographic collection
Anthaxia candens
A jewel beetle that compresses red, green, blue and gold into a body scarcely longer than a fingernail.
About this species
Anthaxia candens(Panzer, 1793)
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Anthaxia candens is a brilliantly coloured European and western Asian jewel beetle associated especially with old fruit trees. Adults are sun-loving flower visitors, while flattened larvae spend their development tunnelling beneath bark.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Coleoptera · Buprestidae · Anthaxia
Accepted species or infraspecific taxon in the current GBIF/Catalogue of Life treatment; unsupported details have been omitted rather than inferred. · checked 2026-07-15
Southern Europe to western AsiaBroad documented range and selected occurrence localities — not a complete occurrence map.
Woody vegetation within the documented range; buprestid larvae typically develop in stems, trunks or roots.
Adults are generally seasonal and often most active in warm sunny conditions.
Larvae of jewel beetles develop in plant tissue; exact hosts for this species require specialist sources.
Solitary.
What makes this species remarkable?
Its metallic colours are produced by microscopic cuticular structures that reflect selected wavelengths, so the beetle changes tone without any pigment moving.
The larva is radically flattened behind the head, a body plan that lets it travel through the paper-thin living layer between bark and wood.
Old cherry and related fruit trees can support the hidden larval galleries for years before the adult exits through a characteristic opening in the bark.