2 A Jewel Beetle at Table Top, NSW
Identification history
| Pseudotaenia waterhousei | 15 Jan 2025 | MarkH | ||
| Melobasis sp. (genus) | 14 Jan 2025 | ejsb |
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User's notes
Found in the weir near Bowna reserve. Unsure of classification, the closest that it looks like is Melobasis but I can’t find which specific one. Beautiful iridescent green with blue front legs and yellow stripes.
2 comments
MarkH
wrote:
15 Jan 2025
This is Pseudotaenia waterhousei. It breeds in Acacias and feeds on Eucalyptus leaves
entom2
wrote:
15 Jan 2025
Hi ejsb,
If not needed, this is a very useful specimen that the Australian National Insect Collection, (ANIC) part of the CSIRO at Belconnen, near Black Mountain, in Canberra, may like to have, if you still have it. If so, best to contact Federica Turco, a senior manager in ANIC, and tell her I sent you!
Its a bit hard to tell but I think this is a female (hopefully mated) that possibly died and drowned after it had finished ovipositing its ova into cracks of the bark of its Acacia larval hosts usually Acacia doratoxylon).
Looking at the records for Acacia doratoxylon in the Atlas of Living Australia, there are a bunch of records for it in Big Budginigi Hill Reserve, next to the northwest corner of the weir. Most likely there will a population of this beetle on that hill, and I bet that's where yours spent its life as a larva. A search right now might see them flying about, where, as MarkH says, they will be feeding on the foliage of Eucalyptus sp (though possibly high up in the crowns, so take good binoculars). Adults might be on the trunks of the Acacia in the mid-late afternoon of sunny hot days. You may find dead ones on the ground or in the strandline of the weir.
The locality is quite important as it is the furthest southerly record that I know of for this species. Being so close to the border with Victoria, I suspect, as I have often wondered about, that the species will eventually turn up in Victoria, so I will include this species in the book on the jewel beetles of Victoria that I am lead author of and which, eventually, will be published by the Entomological Society of Victoria, hopefully later this year (well, maybe!).
I note there is a significant population of Acacia doratoxylon nearby in Victoria between Wangaratta and Albury-Wodonga, so I also bet that this species will eventually turn up there.
If possible, let us know by a post here how you got on with donating it.
All the very best,
Allen M. Sundholm OAM
If not needed, this is a very useful specimen that the Australian National Insect Collection, (ANIC) part of the CSIRO at Belconnen, near Black Mountain, in Canberra, may like to have, if you still have it. If so, best to contact Federica Turco, a senior manager in ANIC, and tell her I sent you!
Its a bit hard to tell but I think this is a female (hopefully mated) that possibly died and drowned after it had finished ovipositing its ova into cracks of the bark of its Acacia larval hosts usually Acacia doratoxylon).
Looking at the records for Acacia doratoxylon in the Atlas of Living Australia, there are a bunch of records for it in Big Budginigi Hill Reserve, next to the northwest corner of the weir. Most likely there will a population of this beetle on that hill, and I bet that's where yours spent its life as a larva. A search right now might see them flying about, where, as MarkH says, they will be feeding on the foliage of Eucalyptus sp (though possibly high up in the crowns, so take good binoculars). Adults might be on the trunks of the Acacia in the mid-late afternoon of sunny hot days. You may find dead ones on the ground or in the strandline of the weir.
The locality is quite important as it is the furthest southerly record that I know of for this species. Being so close to the border with Victoria, I suspect, as I have often wondered about, that the species will eventually turn up in Victoria, so I will include this species in the book on the jewel beetles of Victoria that I am lead author of and which, eventually, will be published by the Entomological Society of Victoria, hopefully later this year (well, maybe!).
I note there is a significant population of Acacia doratoxylon nearby in Victoria between Wangaratta and Albury-Wodonga, so I also bet that this species will eventually turn up there.
If possible, let us know by a post here how you got on with donating it.
All the very best,
Allen M. Sundholm OAM
Location information
- Coordinates 147.054790-35.999870
- Altitude 216.5m
- Places Table Top, NSW
Sighting information
- 1 Abundance
- 14 Jan 2025 10:24 PM Recorded on
- ejsb Recorded by
-
Collections
ejsb NatureMapr Albury, Wodonga Jewel beetles (Buprestidae) Beetles (Coleoptera) Insects Pseudotaenia waterhousei
Additional information
- 25mm to 50mm Animal size
- Unknown Gender
- Deceased Animal health
Species information
- Pseudotaenia waterhousei Scientific name
- A Jewel Beetle Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Rare or uncommon native
- Non-invasive or negligible
- 216.55m Recorded at altitude
Record quality
- Images or audio
- More than one media file
- Verified by an expert moderator
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species
- GPS evidence of location
- Description
- Additional attributes