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Jewel beetle

Castiarina sexplagiata

Photo by MartinL
Published on Project Noah
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Field Notes

Description:

A yellow spotted jewel beetle resembling a native bee feeding on the nectar of tea tree flowers. The elytral apex (tip) is always dark in this species but spotting is variable.

Habitat:

Churchill NP Lysterfield is a habitat for tea tree and popular drinking spot for jewel beetles

Notes:

There are several similar species and over 400 members of the Australian Castiarina genus.

Reference Links:

It's jewel beetle season! from Flickr: EOL Images, Castiarina Jewel Beetle - Castiarina sexplagiata

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (5)
MartinL
@ Jae, haha, I hadn't made that connection. Tea tree is named from its early use to make billy tea. Now that we have good supplies of english tea, we decided it doesn't actually taste that good.
Mark Ridgway
Unfortunately I need to enter the lifeless zone today (the city) It is looking like a good one though.
MartinL
Testing the new lens, Mark. If you go there today, you will meet Geoff :)
Jae
Great serie, Martin. Didn't know jewel beetles fancy a cuppa :)

Spotted for Missions

Mission
Beetles of Southeastern Australia
Mission
Beetles!

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Photographed
PublishedOctober 23, 2014

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