Chondropyga olliffiana
8 Olliff's flower scarab at Moruya, NSW
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| Chondropyga olliffiana | 1 Feb 2024 | AlisonMilton | ||
| Unverified | 1 Feb 2024 | LisaH |
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Significant sighting
User's notes
Impressive beetle!
11 comments
LisaH
wrote:
5 Feb 2024
@AlisonMilton Very exciting - from what I can find on ALA, this is the sixth record of the beetle? Or have I read that incorrectly?
HelenCross
wrote:
5 Feb 2024
Great photos! And definitely not a lot of images on the net! The only other one on NatureMapr was recorded on 20 January: https://southern-highlands.naturemapr.org/sightings/4546327. @KimberiRP can you shed a bit of light on this species?
LisaH
wrote:
5 Feb 2024
@HelenCross Thank you! There I was, wandering along, looking down and in my own world . . . For whatever reason, I looked up to see this amazing creature and managed to snap a few photos before it loudly buzzed away. I'd love to know more, thank you for asking
KimberiRP
wrote:
15 Jun 2025
I've looked at images of Chondropyga olliffiana and Lyraphora obliquata and I have to say that, at this point, I can't separate them. C. olliffiana is a rare species known from the South Coast and Southern Highlands of NSW (so this sighting fits in that respect) and from a few places in northern NSW. The ALA map of occurrence records for L. obliquata* shows many records from Qld, and several from NSW - some in the north-east corner, contiguous with Qld; some in the central-east; one inland (Cowra); and one South Coast (Wonboyn). It's possible that some of these NSW records are actually C. olliffiana. I will try to sort them out in the ANIC!
*https://spatial.ala.org.au/?q=lsid:https:%2F%2Fbiodiversity.org.au%2Fafd%2Ftaxa%2Fdbfeec69-339c-4dd7-bdd9-44dbc677f48e&qualityProfile=ALA
*https://spatial.ala.org.au/?q=lsid:https:%2F%2Fbiodiversity.org.au%2Fafd%2Ftaxa%2Fdbfeec69-339c-4dd7-bdd9-44dbc677f48e&qualityProfile=ALA
KimberiRP
wrote:
25 Jun 2025
There is a comment by Chris Moeseneder about C. olliffiana and L. obliquata at https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/observations/107077726. Looks like they can be hard to separate, even for an expert.
There is still no agreement on one at https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/107086552 !
There is still no agreement on one at https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/107086552 !
entom2
wrote:
20 Feb 2026
I agree with KimberiRP - I am also having great difficulty separating the two aforementioned species!
LisaH
wrote:
20 Feb 2026
Thank you! Intriguing - sounds like the jury will be out for a while on this
Location information
- Places Moruya, NSW
Sighting information
- 2 Abundance
- LisaH Recorded by
- 25mm to 50mm Animal size
- Alive / healthy Animal health
Collections
- Flower Chafers - Cetoniinae Significant Featured LisaH South Coast NatureMapr Chondropyga olliffiana Scarab beetles (Scarabaeidae) Beetles (Coleoptera) Insects
Species information
- Chondropyga olliffiana Scientific name
- Olliff's flower scarab Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Rare or uncommon native
- Non-invasive or negligible
- External link More information
-
Synonyms
Diaphonia olliffiana
Record quality
Quality score
5 / 7
- Images or audio
- More than one media file
- Verified by an expert moderator
- Description
- Additional attributes
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species
- GPS evidence of location