Identify the sex of Meloidae

[leon]

I'll be getting the following specimen today : :Meloidae Lytta aenea
Can anyone tell me how to tell what the sex of  this beetle please ?

[wollastoni]

If it has more than 2 pairs of shoes, it's a girl !

[leon]

Jun 22, 2016 14:37:06 GMT wollastoni said:

If it has more than 2 pairs of shoes, it's a girl !

[leon]

However, seriously, I really would like to know how to determine the sex of several beetles. Sex is an important determinant in selecting specimens to include in a collection. This  Melodia is a case in point.

[Adam Cotton]

I added "of Meloidae" to the subject line so that your question is more likely to come to the attention of someone who knows the answer. If you were asking about Papilionidae I would be able to answer straight away, but I don't know about Meloidae.

In Cerambycidae males often have longer antennae than females, perhaps Meloidae are similar. Hopefully someone who knows the answer will reply here for you.

Adam.

[isidro]

Some Meloidae have sexual dimorphism in antennae as Adam says, altough not in lenght but in shape and structure, being Cerocoma the most striking case. However, as far as I know, Lytta lack completely any sexual dimorphism and I guess that genitalia is the only way to determine the sex.

[leon]

I ran across a very informative article on sex differentiation in "BugGuide".
Here's the url : bugguide.net/node/view/154154