Beetles etc.

Creepy-crawlies are usually the domain of Ronlit on this blog, but we recently received a couple of interesting photos of invertebrates sent in by Flowerdale residents that we thought were worth showing. The swirling pattern of Heather and Steve’s tablecloth provides an elegant background for this colourfully patterned Fiddler Beetle (Eupoecila australasiae) shown at left. Fiddler Beetles feed on nectar and are strong fliers. Their larvae feed on rotting wood and vegetation.

And Dave H’s (unfortunately poor quality) image at right shows a centipede clutching and dragging its egg mass. This centipede belongs to the Order Scolopendramorpha. Centipedes of this order are quite protective parents, guarding and cleaning their egg mass, but apparently this care is not repaid in some species, as the offspring end up eating their mother ! (Ref.: Wikipedia)

Below are a couple more beetles we have come across – both leaf-eaters. Ronlit has identified the one at left as a green scarab beetle (Diphucephela sp.) which can swarm over trees and strip large amounts of foliage. The one on the right appears to be a leaf (or tortoise) beetle of the Family Chrysomelidae, probably Paropsis sp., that lays those little clumps of eggs you often see encircling the young stems of eucalypt foliage and which hatch into gregarious and voracious little leaf-eating larvae.