A few days ago, I had the opportunity to observe a beetle mating. It happened when I was walking along the Saweuk River in North Aceh. Actually, at that time I was looking for wolf spiders to photograph, and they are normally seen in the coral rocks that are on the surface of the river.
But instead of finding wolf spiders, what I found instead was a delightful scene in which two blue-spotted beetles (Cicindela aurulenta; Fabricius, 1801 ) were caught by me in the act of giving vent to their sexual desires.
Yes, they did copulate on rocks, and you know what? That is a rock in the hot sun. But that didn't stop them from doing the sex ritual.
It was an abusive copulation, in my opinion. The male climbs on the female's back while biting her neck.
But that is not what it seems. I know he didn't mean to hurt the female because it was just an affectionate bite.
This is another entry I submitted for the daily #monomad challenge.
All of the images here are my own work, taken with Xiaomi POCO NFC smartphone and an assembled external macro lens.
