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Tortoise leaf beetle

Paropsisterna nigerrima

Description:

Large leaf beetle with bright red stripes

Habitat:

On Manna Gum

Notes:

Tortoise beetle #9 http://morwellnp.pangaean.net/cgi-bin/sh...

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11 Comments

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 8 years ago

Thanks. The parops site is coming along nicely.

MartinL
MartinL 8 years ago

Paropsisterna-nigerrima-var-alternata
There are several that look similar and octolineata is larger and smoother and tropical.
I've checked the museum collections and decided to change the name. https://sites.google.com/site/paropsiste...

MartinL
MartinL 11 years ago

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

MartinL
MartinL 11 years ago

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_...

MayraSpringmann
MayraSpringmann 11 years ago

Lovely!

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 12 years ago

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.

MartinL
MartinL 12 years ago

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.

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 12 years ago

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

misako
misako 12 years ago

beautiful!

MartinL
MartinL 12 years ago

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

CindyBinghamKeiser
CindyBinghamKeiser 12 years ago

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

MartinL
Spotted by
MartinL

Victoria, Australia

Spotted on Dec 8, 2011
Submitted on Dec 8, 2011

Related Spottings

Paropsisterna lineata Paropsisterna obliterata Paropsisterna obliterata Leaf beetle

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Reference

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