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Plague Soldier Beetle

Chauliognathus lugubris

Photo by Mark Ridgway
Published on Project Noah
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Field Notes

Description:

15mm, narrow beetle; yellow abdomen; black head; black and yellow thorax; green-black elytra not full length of abdomen; long segmented antennae

Habitat:

These creatures often gather for mass matings usually on all sorts of plants but sometimes any nearby surface will do (possibly due to lack of space)
http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_beetles/images/DSCF19481.jpg

Notes:

Also known as 'Green Soldier Beetle'. Right now it's more common to find these mating than not.
I love the way the female is holding up one finger as if to say ... ?

Reference Links:

Plague Soldier Beetle - Chauliognathus lugubris or Chauliognathuspulchellus

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (5)
Mark Ridgway
Thanks martin. I took my time with this one because I felt fairly sure they weren't about to run away.
MartinL
Clearly the males don't know what 'no' means. Nice shot rgb.
Mark Ridgway
thanks people - this was one of those lucky 'clear' shots
Latimeria
I didn't know the genus Chauliognathus made its way over to Australia too, cool! Our North American species C. pensylvanicus is always mating too--it can be tough to find a solitary individual. Even more difficult is finding two individuals not on top of each other.
Photographed
PublishedFebruary 10, 2012

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