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Project Noah Nature School
Chauliognathus lugubris
15mm, narrow beetle; yellow abdomen; black head; black and yellow thorax; green-black elytra not full length of abdomen; long segmented antennae
These creatures often gather for mass matings usually on all sorts of plants but sometimes any nearby surface will do (possibly due to lack of space) http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_...
Also known as 'Green Soldier Beetle'. Right now it's more common to find these mating than not. I love the way the female is holding up one finger as if to say ... ?
Spotted on Feb 10, 2012
Submitted on Feb 10, 2012
5 Comments
Thanks martin. I took my time with this one because I felt fairly sure they weren't about to run away.
Clearly the males don't know what 'no' means. Nice shot rgb.
thanks people - this was one of those lucky 'clear' shots
wonderful photo and spotting
I didn't know the genus Chauliognathus made its way over to Australia too, cool! Our North American species C. pensylvanicus is always mating too--it can be tough to find a solitary individual. Even more difficult is finding two individuals not on top of each other.