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Jewel Boxes of Nature

December 2, 2024
by

Most plants are pollinated by insects so it is not usual to see Western Honey Bees (Apis mellifera) for example visiting their flowers. In some cases however the sheer number of flowers or the amount of pollen and nectar a plant produces creates an environment attracting hundreds of insects. I call these Jewel Boxes because they are attract a diversity of animals. Common Cassinia (Cassinia aculeata) is one of these. At the moment it is covered with all manner of flies, moths, beetles and spiders. Not all these invertebrates are pollinators. To be true pollinators they would need to have hair or combs on the legs with which to first trap pollen and then transport it to the next flower. A lot of these critters are there just to feed.

The most stunning of the visitors are the Jewel Beetles (pictured above). Jewel Beetles are a large family of beetles many of which are noted for their iridescent wing cases. There are about 1200 known species in Australia. The adults feed on nectar but the larvae are wood borers.

The young might be boring but the adults are not.

2 Comments leave one →
  1. Karen's avatar
    Karen permalink
    December 3, 2024 9:30 pm

    I always expected these jewel beetles to be bigger like Christmas beetles or stag beetle sized but found one in a native blue bell and so surprised how small they are. They always look huge in photos in ID books.

    • ronlit's avatar
      ronlit permalink*
      December 6, 2024 9:54 am

      Agreed. I was really surprised at how small and delicate they are

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