Jewel Beetle (Tamamushi) Coloring Pages

The Yamato Jewel Beetle (Tamamushi) is known as one of the most beautiful beetles in Japan! Its best feature is its shiny wings. They sparkle in rainbow colors like green, gold, and purple when you look at them from different angles. This sparkle is called "structural color." The colors do not fade even after it dies. That is why people have used them for decorations for a very long time.

How It Got Its Name

There are a few stories about how the Jewel Beetle (Tamamushi) got its name. One story says people named it "Tamamushi" because it is as pretty as a glowing jewel. Another story says people thought it carried souls! Either way, you can tell people have treated it as something special since long ago.

English Name

In English, it is called "Jewel Beetle (Tamamushi)." This means "a beetle that looks like a jewel." It is a great name that tells everyone in the world about its bright shine!

Where It Lives

You can find the Yamato Jewel Beetle (Tamamushi) all across Japan. It loves sunny forests with broadleaf trees. You can often see them near zelkova, hackberry, cherry, and oak trees. On hot summer days, you might see them flying high up in the treetops, sparkling in the light!

When You Can See It

You can see grown-up beetles mostly in summer, from June to September. They are most active during the hottest time from late July through August. Unlike many other insects, the Jewel Beetle (Tamamushi) loves to fly high in the sky right under the hot midday sun!

What It Eats

Grown-up beetles eat leaves from trees like hackberry, zelkova, and cherry trees. Baby beetles live inside dead or fallen trees and eat the wood to grow. It takes a few years for a baby to grow into an adult. It takes a long time to become that beautiful!

When you color the Jewel Beetle (Tamamushi), the trick is showing off its shiny, metallic look! Instead of using just one color, try layering different colors together. This will help you recreate the unique beauty of the Jewel Beetle (Tamamushi).

Make Rainbow Colors!

First, start with your base color. The main color of the Jewel Beetle (Tamamushi) is shiny metallic green.

• Color the whole body lightly with bright yellow-green or green. Next, layer blue and yellow on top in different spots.

• Use more yellow where the light hits. Add a light touch of blue or purple in the shadowy parts. This gives it a magical look that changes color when you look from different sides!

Don't Forget the Two Red Stripes!

The Jewel Beetle (Tamamushi) has two red stripes that run down its back along its wings.

• These stripes are not just plain red. They are actually a reddish-purple color!

• After you finish coloring the green wings, draw these stripes clearly. Your Jewel Beetle (Tamamushi) will instantly look real!

Tricks for Super Shiny Wings

To make the wings look hard and shiny, leave some spots blank!

• Leave long, thin white spots on the rounded parts of the wings as light highlights.

• This makes it look like the bright sun is shining right off it! If you use colored pencils, you can erase a bit of color at the end. You can also use a white pen to draw the shiny light.

Coloring the Legs and Tummy

The Jewel Beetle (Tamamushi) is shiny on its legs and tummy too, not just its back!

• The legs are thin, but use green and blue to make them look shiny too.

• The tummy looks a little more gold than the back. Use more yellow and orange here to make it look just like a real one!

The Jewel Beetle (Tamamushi) is so much fun to color because you can mix your favorite colors! Pretend you are polishing a shiny gemstone, and create your very own Jewel Beetle (Tamamushi)!

They are called living jewels!

The Yamato Jewel Beetle (Tamamushi) has a "shiny metallic body" with green background and lines of red and purple. It is so beautiful that people call it a "Jewel Beetle" in English.

Does the color change when you look at it?

The wings of the Jewel Beetle (Tamamushi) seem to "change to different colors" depending on the angle you look at them and how the light hits them. This mysterious shine is called "iridescence," and it works just like the rainbow colors on soap bubbles or the back of a CD.

Are the shiny wings made to protect them?

You might think such a bright color makes it easy for enemies to find them, but it is actually said to be "for protecting themselves from natural enemies like birds." Birds tend to be scared of shiny things that change color, so experts think the beetle made itself stand out on purpose.

Mysterious wings that never fade, even after death

Most insects lose their bright colors when they die, but the wings of the Jewel Beetle (Tamamushi) "stay beautiful forever, even after they die." That is why this amazing insect has been used as a pretty decoration for Japan's National Treasures (like the Tamamushi no Zushi shrine) since long ago.