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Campsiura abyssinica (Scarabaeidae, Cetoniinae)
Black and yellow beetle, about 15mm long.
Savanna/woodland
Observed at Magadzavane Lodge, Mlawula Nature Reserve
Thanks for the clarification - given that he is familiar with the southern African species, I will assume that the range is just not well documented yet. Your assistance with this ID has been most useful!
I know that there might be some conflicting reports about the range, but range is for me the least reliable of all criteria, mostly because there are just not enough information about a genus or family. There are actually other species of Campsiura, but I would trust Jesus' ID. But you may contact him directly and ask him about your concern. He did quite a lot of research in South Africa and presently in Tanzania and believe me or not, the answer of Jesus came 6 minutes (!) after my mail to him...
Thanks bayucca and Jesus! This one has been giving us a lot of trouble. My only hesitation now is that the distribution for Campsiura abyssinica seems to be East African - I will investigate further.
Scarabaeidae, Cetoniinae, Cremastocheilini, Campsiura abyssinica.
http://boutique.ald-entomologie.fr/WebRo...
http://www.kayakuya.com/catalog/images/C...
http://www.kayakuya.com/catalog/product_...
http://www.flower-beetles.com/cremastoch...
ID provided by Jesus Orozco, one of the experts out of my "experts portfolio".
Muchas gracias, Jesus! Your help is much appreciated!
http://cetoniinae.blogspot.ch/
Thanks, Lauren - closer than a lot of the ones I've found, but unfortunately it seems all the Eupoecila species are Australian.
Kate, this almost looks like a Fiddler Beetle Scarab, without the "fiddle shape" on the elytra. Could it be a dark anomally?
Me too bayucca! I couldn't believe nothing looked like this one. I was hoping you had secret resources! :)
Good luck ;-)
I already have scrolled through hundreds of pages of Flower Beetle, but no match found...
This looks like a Flower Scarab, Subfamily Cetoniinae, but I haven't found one that looks exactly like this one yet.
I have one more picture of this from a different angle, but it wasn't very clear. When I tried to see more of it, it flew off!