Tortoise leaf beetle

Ashish. There are many tortoise leaf beetles in our country and I'm getting to know them well. They are my favorite group.

Thanks Mayra. This one is rare and huge, and exciting when I see one. There is a similar one but with a different name http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_...

Lovely!

Thanks martin. The potential rate of learning here can be phenomenal.
We don't have any manna gum here so maybe that's why I haven't seen this guy. Going into the garden with the camera has made me realise just how important it is to promote local and native plants - the 'foreigners' here are all devoid of life by comparison.

Last year I saw one only of this species, but I had a crap camera. Leaf beetles (Chrysomelidae) are vegetarian like most beetles are and the ones that eat the lerps are ladybird beetles. This one eats the manna gm leaves, so does its larvae. Pupae drop to the ground.

Wow I've never seen one of these around here. Was it eating the usual manna lerpy things?

beautiful!

Many seem to mimic the various galls that appear on leaves. Others clearly do not. This one is just showing off.

I'm amazed at the different colors and patterns on Tortoise beetles :) This one is very pretty.