Pretty cool beetles: Can manipulation of visible and near-infrared sunlight prevent overheating?

Passive thermoregulation is an important strategy to prevent overheating in thermally challenging environments. Can the diversity of optical properties found in Christmas beetles (Rutelinae) be an advantage to keep cool? We measured changes in temperature of the elytra of 26 species of Christmas beetles, exclusively due to direct radiation from a solar simulator in visible (VIS: 400–700 nm) and near-infrared (NIR: 700–1700 nm) wavebands. Then, we evaluated if the optical properties of elytra could predict their steady state temperature and heating rates while controlling for size. We found that higher absorptivity increases the heating rate and final steady state of the beetle elytra in a biologically significant range (3 to 5°C). There was substantial variation in the absorptivity of Christmas beetle elytra; this variation was achieved by different combinations of reflectivity and transmissivity in both VIS and NIR. The size was an important factor in predicting the change in temperatu...