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Tortiose leaf beetle

Paropsis pantherina

Photo by MartinL
Published on Project Noah
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-37.7166, 148.777

Field Notes

Description:

Hey, here is a new species!
An attractive red banded paropsine leaf beetle in the obsoleta group.

Habitat:

East Gippsland found on Eucalyptus, as this genus always is.

Notes:

P. obsoleta the red-blue banded leaf beetle is rather different but these two are united in EOL and ALA. I thought this was an error and my species id is P. pantherina but it appears now that both are the same species (P. obsoleta).
PaDIL seems to have them distinct and I have followed that reasoning.
http://www.ipmimages.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=5501843 http://www.ipmimages.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=5501841
I still kind of think I am right and there are two species, or should be, but all the experts disagree with me so what more can I say :(

Reference Links:

eucalyptus tortoise beetle, Paropsis pantherina (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) - …

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (10)
MartinL
I have seen these twice now and consider this a different species from obsoleta. https://sites.google.com/site/paropsispages/paropsis-pantheri
MartinL
Thank you Stephen and venusflutrap
MartinL
I've only got eleven Paropsis species, not including P. charybdis and P. intermadia. :(
MartinL
Thanks Mark, Wouldn't it be nice to have a list to check off all 72 NAMED species of Paropsis, just like we used to collect footy cards and paste them into marked spaces to make up the whole team :)
Mark Ridgway
Excellent addition. What a little cracker. You'll just have to breed your own to prove or otherwise.
MartinL
This beetle is confirmed to be Paropsis obsoleta. Thanks Ken and Chris. ( "I asked Chris Reid for his opinion and he immediately replied P. obsoleta which is the type species for this genus.")
MartinL
for the record, Paul Zborowski calls this beetle P. obsoleta in his Field Guide to Insects in Australia.

Spotted for Missions

Mission
Beetles of Southeastern Australia
Mission
Beetles!

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Photographed
PublishedMarch 13, 2014

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