Order V — Coleoptera. — Beetles
This group is the best known of all the orders, for nearly every entomologist starts collecting as a “beetle hunter.” They are the most frequently observed because they are found everywhere; there is hardly a log or stone that does not shelter some beetle; they infest all kinds of timber, damage the living trees in the forest, devour foodstuffs, stored grain, skins, furs and drugs; others are attracted to all kinds of decaying animal or vegetable matter; while hundreds either in the larval or perfect state are to be found all through the year upon the flowers, foliage, or bark of trees and plants.
Thus they are readily collected, and when obtained are much more easy to look after and keep than the more delicate insects, on account of their stout horny structure.
Beetles are typical insects in that the head, thorax, and abdomen are very well defined, and can be readily distinguished from each other; the insect is more or less protected with a stout horny integument. But the joints are flexible, so that though the parts fit close and the body appears ensheathed in regular armour plate, most of the species are very active. They are all furnished with cutting, biting, or chewing jaws, and are therefore called mandibulate insects; and with very few exceptions have well developed eyes and antennae, the latter produced into all kinds of curious shapes in some groups, but usually slender, filiform and many jointed. The thorax consists of one solid segment, the three portions, so apparent in some insects, being soldered together to form one uniform mass when viewed from above. The large abdomen is said to contain ten distinct segments on dissection, but when viewed from the under-surface generally only five can be seen. Instead of the thin flying, or membranous fore-wings of other insects, the first pair in the beetles are transformed into two horny plates completely covering the dorsal surface of the abdomen and called the elytra. When at rest they fit close together over the back, but can be readily opened out in flight. Though of little use in flying, they probably assist a large heavy beetle in balancing or steering through the air, and always cover the two large pointed membranous hind flying wings, which when not in use are folded up beneath them. In some beetles the elytra are not divided, but form a solid shield; and the hind wings are wanting, or if they exist are simple pads. The various families have the head, mouth parts, and legs admirably adapted to their different habits and diet.
Their larvae are also as variable in form as the perfect insects; many are active, slender grubs with three pairs of legs, and large powerful jaws, as in the carnivorous species; elongate cylindrical jointed creatures with scaly heads, or short and wrinkled grubs like the wood borers; others quite slug-like feed upon the surface of the foliage; and a few are clothed with fine hairs.
In the pupal state, for all beetles undergo a complete metamorphosis, they are inactive, mummy-like creatures showing the outlines of the future beetle, with the wings, antennae, and legs closely folded down, and the whole enveloped in a thin membrane. Some form regular cocoons from the material among which they feed; others seal up at both ends the cavity in which they have been feeding before they pupate; but many do not even take this precaution.
The classification of the Coleoptera has been undertaken by many entomologists. In Gemminger and Harold’s great Catalogue of the Coleoptera, seventy-five families were enumerated; Sharp has recently adopted eighty, but when it comes to the larger sub-divisions none of them agree. Westwood in his Classification has an alarming array of sections, tribes, stirps, and sub-families: Kirby gives fourteen sections in his Text Book; while Sharp simplifies the matter by forming six series, some of them on the old lines, but his third series is apparently more of a dumping ground than anything else for those that will not fit into the other five, for it includes such dissimilar families as the Staphylinidae, Buprestidae, Coccinellidae and many others.
As Masters’ Catalogue of the Described Coleoptera of Australia is the list used by all Australian collectors, I shall follow his grouping of the families (originally based on that of Gemminger and Harold), defining the groups of each important or distinct family, though through want of space many of them can be only briefly noticed.
There have been so many describers of Australian beetles, that their names alone would take some enumerating; so that I propose to omit them here and notice them later on when dealing with the families upon which they have worked. Australia is rich in large and handsome specimens, which attracted the attention of the colonists at a very early date in the history of the country, and quite a number of collections were made and the specimens forwarded to England. Most of the exploring expeditions that traversed the back country had a collector of some sort on their staff, and it was usually beetles that formed the bulk of the entomological specimens obtained. Again the Scientific Exploring Ships, fitted out by our own and foreign countries, that visited the different ports, collected many zoological specimens, so that many of our larger beetles were known and described many years ago. Over 7,200 are listed in Masters’ Catalogue, and since its publication some thousands have been added to our list.
Family 1. Tiger Beetles — Cicindelidae
This family is well represented in Australia by about forty-five species, chiefly described by Macleay (Trans. Ent. Soc. N.S.W. 1871), and later on (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., 1887–8); and Count Castelnau (Trans. Royal Soc. Victoria). The typical Tiger Beetles are slender graceful insects, with broad short heads, furnished with large projecting eyes, and great powerful jaws; the thorax is produced into a cylindrical neck; and the short rounded elytra cover large wings.
The larvae are elongated creatures, with large curving jaws; they live in burrows in the ground, generally in the vicinity of a waterhole or creek where there is a sandy shore; here they remain hidden during the day, and come out at night to capture and devour the less powerful insects they come across. One of our largest and most handsome species is Megacephala cylindrica, found in the western country, where it hides deep down in the cracks of the soil; it lives chiefly upon ants. It measures over ¾ of an inch in length, and is of a rich metallic green colour: the mouth, antennae and legs are brownish yellow. A second species, M. frenchi, has been recently described by Sloane, and ranges from North West Queensland into Western Australia. The Genus Tetracha contains a number of handsome, shorter, broad-bodied Tiger Beetles with green metallic tints and reddish brown or yellow legs, and similar coloured markings on the wing covers. They form burrows, like their larvae, along the sandy margins of rivers and water-holes, coming out and running along the water’s edge at twilight, and often flying into the lamp at night. Tetracha australis has a wide range from the Murray river to the interior; I have dug them out of the sand round an artesian bore near the Queensland border. It is smaller than the previously described one, which it somewhat resembles in general colour, but can be easily distinguished by the larger jaws, shorter body, and the elytra tipped with yellow near the apex.
T. australasiae and T. hopei are smaller species, dull green, marked with reddish brown on the wing covers; they are found in North West Australia, while several other species are recorded from Queensland.
The Cicindela are not common about Sydney; two species, however, are to be found; Cicindela ypsilon, about ½ an inch long, is so named from the dark markings on the cream-coloured wing cases resembling the Greek E; they are to be found running about on the seashore in hundreds in midsummer, and can easily be caught by throwing a handful of sand over them: though so numerous, I have never been able to find their larvae. In captivity one ate raw beef quite readily, burying its jaw in the strange food and sucking up the juice.
C. circumcincta is a smooth, dark green beetle with the outer edges of the wing covers marked with yellow; it is sometimes taken about Sydney, but is not very common.
The smallest Australian species is C. tenuicollis, described by Macleay from specimens I collected on a sandy flat near the Barrier Ranges in N.W. Australia; it is a rich, metallic red insect with slender legs and small thorax. On a sandy road near Cairns, N. Queensland, several small species were so plentiful that they often flew up in clouds, and I have taken scores in half an hour with a butterfly net.
The tropical Genus Distypsidera is represented by about a dozen species, chiefly confined to North Queensland, where they hunt over the stems of trees; when approached they run round the trunk to keep out of sight; they are broader and more thickset than the Cicindela, and their eyes are very large and prominent; D. flavicans is the only one that comes down as far as Northern N.S. Wales.
The researches of Hacker in North Queensland have added several new and interesting species of Tiger Beetles from the Coen River, some of which are closely allied to New Guinea forms.
Family 2. Carnivorous Ground Beetles — Carabidae
These are broader and thicker set than the Cicindelidae, varying in size from several inches to a line in length; the head is smaller than the thorax; and most of them are black or reddish brown, while others are richly marked with metallic tints.
They are most numerous in open forest country, hiding under logs or stones during the day and hunting over the ground at night: when camped in the bush, where logs are plentiful, the entomologist can often trap many interesting species by sinking empty tins into the soil, into which they readily tumble.
The larvae are slender creatures with three pairs of simple legs; their bodies are protected with stout horny plates, and the head is furnished with large powerful jaws; they are found in the same situations as the adult beetles, and devour all kinds of insects that they can capture; the larger ones even eat small frogs. This family has been divided into a great number of sub-families which it is hardly necessary to enumerate here.
Australia is very rich in Carabidae; over 1,600 species have been described. Chaudoir described many in Russian and Belgian; Newman, Westwood, Pascoe, Hope, and Bates in English; Castelnau, Macleay, and Sloane in Australian scientific journals; so that the literature dealing with these beetles is very scattered, but the references can be found in Masters’ Catalogue.
Calosoma schayeri is our type of this cosmopolitan genus. They live in cavities in cultivated fields, and are very useful insects where numerous, for they devour the larvae and pupae of many species of cut-worms. It measures about 1 inch in length, has a small head, narrow rounded thorax, and very broad, short, rounded abdomen; the whole is bright metallic green. It has a wide range over Australia, and may sometimes be even taken in the Sydney streets.
The Genus Pamborus contains many distinctive black beetles, some of which are marked with coppery green tints; they measure up to 1 inch in length, and are broad in proportion. When captured, many of them discharge an acrid fluid or gas that stains the fingers reddish brown.
Pamborus viridis is black, with the wing covers thickly ridged with parallel punctured striae marked with green.
P. alternans is a larger beetle, 1¼ inches long, with the same small head, and rounded thorax tapering and narrow behind; the coppery-tinted elytra have very broad parallel ridges.
Drypta australis is a small beetle about 5 lines in length; it has a pointed head, large projecting eyes, and the thorax forms a cylindrical neck hardly broader than the head; the wing covers do not quite cover the tip of the abdomen. In general colour it is yellowish brown, with the antennae, legs, a broad stripe down the centre and the edges of the wing covers dark purple to black; the wing covers are very finely striated and punctured. They live on the edges of swamps, and sometimes fly into the lamp at night.
A beetle with a very wide range is Helluo costatus; it is a medium sized brown beetle; the head and thorax are about the same length, the latter rounded on either side in front but narrowed behind; the wing covers are flattened, broadly ridged, and not reaching to the tip of the abdomen.
Our Common “Bombardier Beetle,” Pheropsophus verticalis, is another widely distributed species; it measures over ½ an inch in length, and is of a general dark brown tint, with the head, antennae, and thorax dull yellow; the wing covers, which do not reach to the tip of the abdomen, are blotched on either side and the tip with the same colour. It can be found in any damp spot under stones or logs; and as soon as disturbed, it discharges a small cloud of vapour with a distinct report, and which feels quite warm to the fingers.
The Genus Scopodes contains a number of tiny beetles that are common on the plains and about crabholes and swamps.
Scopodes sigillatus has the wing covers roughened, and measures about 2 lines in length; with its large projecting eyes it might be mistaken for a small Tiger Beetle.
We now come to a group, Pseudomorphides, comprising a number of genera that live under the loose bark on tree trunks; they have adapted themselves to their confined hiding places, so that they have become flattened and rounded, and even remarkable in colouration; and so, unless a collector carefully examines them, he would never at first sight think of including them among the Carabidae.
The Genus Silphomorpha, in which over 40 species have been described, are yellow and black, or yellow and brown beetles up to ½ an inch in length; all their parts fit close together into a convex or oval form very like some of the water-beetles.
Silphomorpha colymbetoides and S. nitiduloides are found about Sydney. The first has the head and thorax reddish brown, the elytra pale yellow broadly blotched in the centre with black: the second, much larger (¼ of an inch in length) is blackish, and the centre only of each wing cover blotched with dull yellow.
The members of the Genus Adelotopus are mostly black, narrow, and shield-shaped, with the tips of the wing covers truncated; while in Philophloeus, though very thin and flattened, they have the head and thorax well divided from the broad abdomen; and are dull yellow, striped, and barred with darker brown.
Turning from these we come to the giant of all our carabs, Hyperion schroetteri, which lives in cavities in tree trunks, where it is often found by splitters in the red gum forests in Victoria and N.S. Wales. I have taken it at night round the camp fire on the Murray frontage. It is shining black, and measures 2½ inches in length, but being narrow in proportion it appears much longer than it really is; while with its large elongate head and immense jaws it is a very formidable-looking creature.
The next in order is a large and interesting group, the Scaritides, which are not only wingless, but have the wing covers soldered together into one solid armour plate; their legs are adapted for digging, and many of them live in underground tunnels of considerable length. In most species the head, armed with large powerful jaws, fits close into the thorax, so that they move together; and in some groups the insect appears to be formed only of two parts, for the head and thorax taken together are as long and broad as the abdomen. After a heavy fall of rain in the interior, some species may be found in numbers under logs and stones, driven out of their holes and deep burrows. They are much sought after by collectors; and Macleay, Blackburn, and Sloane have described a number of curious species.
Eutoma tinctilatum, found about Sydney, and typical of the elongate slender Scaritides, was described by Newman many years ago, and figured by Westwood in his “Arcana Entomologica 1841”; it is a shining black beetle about 8 lines in length.
Carenum bonelli, the commonest Sydney species of this genus, measures about ¾ of an inch and is broad in proportion; it is black, with bright metallic green tints on thorax and elytra.
The members of the Genus Philoscaphus are short and broad, with the elytra covered with rows of warts.
P. tuberculatus has a wide range over the western country; it measures over 1 inch in length; is black; the head and thorax are broader than the body; the latter oval, with the elytra finely rugose.
Euryscaphus titanus, a shining black beetle, is nearly 2 inches in length, and measures ¾ of an inch across the elytra; while E. lobicollis, a smaller beetle, has the body still broader in proportion to its size; both these and several other fine species are not uncommon on the Western Australian goldfields about Kalgoorlie.
The allied Clivinides, recently monographed by Sloane (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1896) are like elongate miniature Carenums furnished with dilated fore-legs adapted for digging; they are generally taken along the edges of swamps and watercourses under logs or the debris on the soft mud. They are world wide in their distribution, and are most plentiful in the warmer portions of the globe: Australia is rich in species: Sloane lists 55 species in his paper.
Clivina basalis has a wide range over S. Australia, Victoria, and N.S. Wales; it measures ¼ inch; is black, with the basal portion of the elytra and the legs red.
C. australasiae, slightly larger, is all black; it has a similar range, and is also recorded from New Zealand and Lord Howe Island.
The next group comprise the typical Chlaenius; they are rather long-legged beetles with a small head and somewhat heart-shaped thorax forming a slight neck behind, and with a broad, oval, convex abdomen. They are active beetles, generally found under stones or wood near water-holes; many of them have a greenish dull metallic tint. Chlaenius puncticeps is black, with the legs and an irregular blotch at the apical half of each wing cover dull yellow. C. maculifer, from Queensland, is smaller; C. laeteviridis is dull green with the edges of the wing covers yellow; C. marginatus is a larger and brighter green beetle with the wing covers marked with yellow in a similar manner.
Promecoderus concolor, typical of the genus, is a shining black beetle about ½ inch in length, of a curious cylindrical shape with the head turned down in front. These beetles are found all over the interior in dry country under stones or logs. The allied Genus Parroa was formed by Castelnau for several curious beetles taken in the interior near the Paroo River. Parroa noctis, from Kalgoorlie, W.A., measures over 1 inch in length, and is a rounded solid-looking black beetle. The bulk of the species once included in the Genus Harpalus is now divided up into a number of groups; most of the small black carabs running about in the suburban gardens in the early summer belong to this division.
The Feronides comprise a number of our largest carabs: Catadromus australis measures nearly 2 inches in length, is broad in proportion; it is shining black with the wing covers broadly ridged, and their margins and the hind portion of the thorax richly marked with bright metallic green. C. lacordairei is smaller, and similar in general form, with the thorax smaller and the metallic colouration on the thorax running right round to the hind margin of the head. Both these beetles are found along the edges of swamps and lagoons in the Murray country living under dead logs, where their black banded larvae may also be found, sometimes feasting on small frogs.
All the beetles known under the Genera Homalosoma and Trichisternus have been placed in the new Genus Castelnaudia by the Russian entomologist Tschitscherini, as both the former names were preoccupied. This group contains many large handsome beetles, chiefly confined to our coastal forest country, where they live under dead logs.
Castelnaudia renardi is one of the common species in the Tweed River scrubs; it measures 1½ inches in length; is black with the parallel striae on the elytra widely apart; the head very large, is turned down and furnished with long powerful jaws.
C. imperiale, from Southern Queensland, is a very handsome species; it is about the same size as the former but has the thorax and elytra more flattened; and the head, thorax, and margins of the wing covers are rich metallic green.
In November I took several specimens on the top of Mt. Tambourine, S. Queensland, under deeply buried logs by the roadside, where they live in broad excavated galleries; in two nests I found three larvae and eggs. The former, probably by their size only a few weeks old, were elongate, flattened, light brown to ochreous coloured creatures, with the head and dorsal surface of segments chocolate brown. The head is broader than long, flattened, and furnished with long curved brown jaws, and has also a stout incurved tooth near the base of each jaw. They were very active creatures and lived for over a month in captivity. The eggs were dull yellow, ⅜ of an inch long, broadly rounded, and were enclosed in a thin clay shell like the rind of an orange.
The Genus Notonomus has been recently revised by Sloane (Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1902); in this paper he enumerated 72 species, a number of them previously undescribed. These beetles are apterous, and confined to the coastal forests of Eastern Australia. Sloane says: “From the Grampians in Western Victoria, along the coast of Eastern Australia as far north as the Burnett River in Queensland, and many species are very restricted in their range.”
Notonomus australasiae is one of the commonest species around Sydney; it measures under ¾ of an inch in length, and is of a uniform black colour; the broad thorax is arcuate behind the head, swelling out and broadly rounded on the sides; it has a rich blue metallic tint, and a distinct medium suture; the wing covers are distinctly striated, forming broad parallel ridges.
Passing over a number of more or less important genera we finish with the Genus Bembidium, which contains a number of small active beetles generally found along the edges of swamps.
B. ocellatum is a shining black beetle under ⅙ of an inch in length, with a broad head, and the thorax rounded on the hind margin.
Family 3. Water Beetles — Dytiscidae
This group contains the first division of the Water Beetles; these have the antennae bare and filiform; short palpi and undivided eyes; the legs fringed with hairs, the front pair not longer than the hind pair, adapted for swimming. They live in the water both in the larval and beetle stage; the former are slender, elongate creatures, with a body consisting of twelve segments; the head is broad and furnished with powerful hollow jaws; they are very voracious creatures, devouring all sorts of aquatic insects, and even the smaller and weaker of their own species. When full grown they pupate in cells which they form in the soft mud.
These beetles are perfectly at home in the water, and breathe by coming to the surface; turning head downwards, and with the tip of the wing covers slightly raised, they draw in a supply of air which occupies a cavity on the back, and when the elytra are closed down, the beetle can remain under water until the supply is exhausted. Many species can be easily captured in the water with a small hand-net; on a warm summer night numbers leave the water and come flying in to the lighted lamps. Many are very small, few over ½ an inch in length; they are quite as numerous in the colder waters of the globe as in the tropics, and many species have a very wide distribution.
We have representatives of most of the typical genera; our species have been described by Clark (Journal of Entomology 1862), and Sharp (Trans. Dublin Soc. 1882).
The members of the Genus Bidessus are small, brown, boat-shaped beetles not much over ½ an inch in length; about 18 species are listed in Masters’ Catalogue; Bidessus bistrigatus has the head marked with black and the wing covers clouded with dark brown; it has a wide range over Australia. Antiphorus gilberti is more than twice the size, has the wing covers mottled, and is common in the waters of Victoria and South Australia. Macroporus howetti is dark brown, more shining and slightly larger, the dark markings forming two irregular black bands connected by a dorsal stripe. Hydroporus collaris, from the north-west coast of Australia, measures under 2 lines in length; it is all black with the dorsal surface convex and finely rugose. Platynectis 10-punctata was described by Fabricius at a very early date from Australia; it is common along the edges of the Murray lagoons, where it is to be found in the soft mud under the water-weeds. It is a smooth, shining black beetle, with very convex wing covers. Rhantus pubescens is an oval beetle, under ½ an inch in length, of a dull brown colour, with the whole of the wing covers granulated with black. Colymbetes lanceolatus is a more elongate insect of a similar brown colour, the back of the head and wing covers marked with irregular parallel black lines, thickest in the middle. Copelatus acuductus is a larger shining black beetle, typical of the genus, of which about twenty species are described from this country.
Cybister tripunctatus is one of our largest species; it measures over 1 inch, and is broad and flattened in proportion; it is of a blackish or dark olive colour, margined right round from the front of the head to the tips of the wing covers with a dull yellow stripe. As children we often pulled these beetles out of the water hanging on to the bait used for catching crayfish, and we called them “clocks,” why I do not know. This species has a very wide range over Australia, and it is recorded from Lord Howe Island. It was once known under the name of C. gayndahensis. A second species has been described by Blackburn under the name of C. granulatus from the Northern Territory of South Australia. Eretes australis is another widely distributed species; it measures about ½ an inch; is broad and flattened, and is of a general yellowish brown tint, marked with black between the eyes, and the wing covers are finely punctured with close black spots.
Family 4. Whirligig Beetles — Gyrinidae
This family, small in number of species, is well known to all lovers of Nature, for it contains the water beetles that float about in shoals on the margin of any quiet stream or waterhole, or dart about like bits of silver, twisting and turning round in most remarkable gyrations, from which they take the popular name of Whirligig Beetles.
They are distinguished from the last family (which they resemble in the earlier stages of their development) in having very short antennae; the fore-legs much longer than the two hind pairs; and in having the eyes on either side divided, thus having two eyes looking down into the water and two above, so that they can see both sides at the same time, an admirable adaptation of vision for beetles living so much on the surface of the water and liable to be attacked from above or below. The tip of the body is not covered by the elytra, and when diving downward they carry a bubble of air attached to the extremity. These beetles are well represented in Australia, and have been described by Clark previously mentioned, Regimbart (Annals Soc. Ent. France 1882), Macleay (Trans. Ent. Soc. N.S.W. 1871), and Boisduval in the “Entomology of the voyage de l’Astrolabe.” Our common species about Sydney, Macrogyrus canaliculatus, is of the usual boat-shaped form, silvery black, with the wing covers finely striated; it measures about ½ an inch in length. M. oblongus is a somewhat smaller species not so broad in form; is browner, and the wing covers are very slightly striated; it is also found in the vicinity of Sydney. M. paradoxus was described and figured by Regimbart from Australia with no exact locality, but I have collected it on the North West coast of Australia, and seen others from Southern Queensland, so that it has a wide range. It is not much over ¼ of an inch in length; is dark olive; the outer margin is dull yellow, and it has a few fine striae on either side of the elytra. I have found the pupae of one species, probably M. oblongus, in clay cells attached to a bit of board on the bank of a waterhole in the western country of N.S. Wales.
Family 5. Clubbed-horned Water Beetles — Hydrophilidae
This family is also known under the Group Palpicorna in reference to the clubbed antennae, and made to include a second family, which are very closely allied but are terrestial in their habits.
These beetles have five jointed tarsi; short clubbed antennae, with the palpi slender and much longer than the antennae. Most of the beetles are vegetarian in their diet, though many of them in the earlier stages of their existence are carnivorous.
These are the largest of the Water Beetles; and the typical species are ovate and very convex in form; the thorax very broad; the tibiae slightly spined on the edges, terminating in a stouter spine at the apex; the tarsi ciliated. They are poor swimmers when compared with the two last groups.
Most of our species have been described by Macleay (Trans. Ent. Soc. N.S.W. 1871), and Blackburn (Pro. Linn. Soc. 1888). Hydrophilus latipalpus is of the usual boat-shaped form; shining black; and the wing covers are very finely marked with punctured parallel striae. It measures nearly 1½ inches, and is found about Sydney. H. albipes is a much smaller beetle of similar form and colour; it is found in the Murray River districts.
Family 6. Rove Beetles — Staphylinidae
These peculiar beetles can be readily distinguished from most of the other families by their abbreviated elytra, which do not protect more than a third of the abdomen leaving the hind portion quite bare; while the well developed hind wings are tucked away out of sight under them, but can be quickly extended and used for flight. The apical segments of the abdomen are very flexible, and most species have the habit of turning up the tip of the body when running along; others have the power of discharging a strong scent, in some cases with quite a pleasant odour.
They are slender elongate insects with stout jaws, and the antennae thickened or clubbed at the extremities; the tarsal joints are variable in number. Rove Beetles are found in many different situations, but chiefly upon the ground in the vicinity of manure, decaying vegetable matter, dead animals, and even on the seashore hiding under stones and seaweed, though most of them only seek these places to devour other small creatures, for they are carnivorous in their habits. Some of the foreign species are found living in the nests of ants, but I do not think any with this peculiarity have been recorded from Australia.
The principal writers on our Staphylinidae are Macleay (Trans. Ent. Soc. N.S.W. 1871), and Fauvel in his work on “Les Staphylinides de l’Australie et de la Polynesie” (1878). In 1886 Olliff commenced his revision of the Staphylinidae of Australia (Proc. Linn. Soc.), but this only ran into the third part and was never finished. Others have been described by Blackburn (Trans. Royal Soc. S.A. 1887). About 400 species have been recorded from this country representing most of the typical sub-families.
The Genus Aleochara contains a number of small short black beetles with thickened antennae; those in Homalota are even smaller but more slender; several species are found under cowdung.
Quedius luridipennis measures over ⅓ of an inch in length; the shining black head and thorax are almost globular, the latter the larger; the broad flattened fore wings are red; the margins of the abdomen are flanged and slightly spined, and the tip fringed with three tufts of bristles.
The Devil’s Coach-horse, Creophilus erythrocephalus, is our largest common species and has a very wide range; it measures over ¾ of an inch in length and is very broad in proportion; its general colour is black with the head bright red, the eyes and a rounded spot between them black; the elytra have a metallic purple tint. It can be often found in stables, or hunting round dead animals in the bush; when disturbed it cocks up its head, turning up the tip of its body at the same time in a very comical manner, from which habit the allied European species has probably derived the above popular name.
Actinus macleayi is slightly longer but more slender, and is our most beautiful species of this somewhat dull coloured family; the head and thorax are rich metallic coppery green, the elytra deep metallic purple; the basal portion of the abdomen is black, and the tip, antennae, and legs bright yellow. It is a native of the tropical scrubs of North Queensland; in the neighbourhood of Cairns I captured specimens in tins I had baited with bits of meat and had sunk in the ground to trap Carabidae, and into which they had been attracted by the food.
Xantholinus erythrocephalus lives in the stems of rotting grass trees, where the beetles can be collected in all stages of development; the beetle measures over ½ an inch in length; is of a much more elongate form; black; the elytra dull red, and the tip of the abdomen yellow.
Paederus cruenticollis is one of our commonest species, and is often found under stones in the bush; it is a very distinctly marked little beetle about ¼ of an inch in length, slender in form with long thickened antennae; black, with the thorax and centre of the abdomen red, and the elytra deep metallic blue.
Sartellus signatus is a curious little yellow beetle quite unlike the typical Rove Beetle; it is short and rounded in form, with the fore wings much longer than usual; is of a uniform light yellow colour, with a curious reddish brown mark in the centre of each elytron. It is common on our sandy beaches, where it hides under the seaweed and rubbish and feeds chiefly upon dead barnacles.
Family 7. Ant Beetles — Pselaphidae
This group includes a number of small beetles that have the elytra usually not covering more than half of the abdominal segments; the antennae thickened toward the tips; maxillary palpi large, and the tarsi three jointed. The ordinary collector is very apt to pass over these small creatures, but many interesting forms are found in this country by sifting rubbish, or examining debris along the water’s edge, which can be gathered up in a stout bag and afterwards shaken over a sheet of white paper. I have captured them along the edges of lagoons in summer time by pouring buckets of water over the dry cracked mud, and as they were drowned out gathering them into small tubes. They can also be taken with a sweeping net when on the wing; in Europe many species are found in ants’ nests. Westwood believes that they feed chiefly upon Acari and other small creatures.
Large numbers have been described from this country, chiefly through the researches of the Rev. R. L. King (Trans. Ent. Soc. N.S.W. 1865). Messrs. Sharp, Westwood, Schaufers and Blackburn added to this number; while in 1900 Raffray published his Monograph on the family (Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1900), in which he described 45 new species, and brings the number known up to 200.
Pselaphus lineatus, a reddish beetle, measures 1½ lines in length, and is found about Sydney; it has a wide range over N.S. Wales, Victoria, and South Australia.
Lea (Pro. Royal Soc. Victoria 1905) records four species of the Genus Articerus found in ants’ nests, all of which appear to have a wide range; A. curvicornis, originally described by Westwood from ants’ nests in Melbourne, is also found in Tasmania, S. Australia and N.S. Wales.
Family 8. Comb-horned Beetles — Paussidae
These are remarkable looking beetles, easily distinguished by their broad flattened toothed antennae curving round on either side. The head is short and angular on the sides; the thorax flattened; and the elongate elytra truncate at the apex and not quite covering the tip of the abdomen. Most of the species are of moderate size, and reddish brown in colour; they are confined chiefly to Africa, the East Indies, and Australia. Most of the African species are said to dwell in ants’ nests, but though I have had several records of species being found under stones in ants’ nests, most of ours are found under logs, bark, or crawling about on the grass or ground. This family attracted the notice of entomologists at a very early date; Latreille formed the family to contain the two genera Paussus and Cerapterus, which he called Paussili, afterwards changed by Leach to Paussides. Donovan described the first species from this country in 1815. Westwood has written a great deal about them; he monographed the family (Proc. Linn. Soc. 1849–1850); in his “Arcana Entomologica” he described a great many from Australia and other countries; others in the “Annals of Natural History,” 1851; and again figured others in his “Theosaurus Entomologica,” Oxen. 1874. Macleay added 32 new species (Trans. Ent. Soc. N.S.W. 1873), all belonging to the Genus Arthropterus; while Blackburn placed 3 more to the list 1891–1892, one of them in the typical Genus Paussus.
Arthropterus brevis is one of our smallest species; it measures slightly over ¼ of an inch in length; the antennae are rather short and broad; the thorax broad and rounded on the sides; the elytra expanded slightly to the truncate tips, leaving the apical portion of the abdomen exposed. This is our commonest species, and can be sometimes obtained in numbers near Sydney under the papery bark of the ti-trees.
A. humeralis comes from the Wellington district, and measures under ¾ of an inch; the antennae are large; the head angular; the body long, narrow, and rounded to the extremity, with the elytra short and truncate above the tip of the abdomen. General colour dark reddish brown, lightly clothed with short scattered brown hairs.
Family 9. Ant Beetles — Scydmaenidae
The members of this family are minute creatures of which little is known. Sharp says: “Allied to the Silphidae, with the hind coxae separated, and the facets of the eyes coarser; tarsi five jointed; the number of abdominal segments visible six.”
It is owing to the Rev. R. L. King that we first knew anything about this group in Australia; he described about 15 species (Trans. Ent. Soc. N.S.W. 1864); to which 2 more have been added by Macleay and Sharp.
Heterognathus carinatus was described by King from the nest of small black ants found in the neighbourhood of Parramatta; Lea has lately recorded it from the nests of ants (Iridomyrmex nitidus) taken in the Mallee country of North Western Victoria. He says: “It can be distinguished from all its congeners by the prothorax having a short longitudinal carina at the base, on each side of which is a transverse impression.”
Family 10. Burying Beetles — Silphidae
The typical European species are popularly known as Burying Beetles from the curious habit they have of excavating the ground beneath any small dead bird or animal they find, and finally burying it under the soil. This family contains a number of interesting beetles both large and small; the antennae are thickened or clubbed; the tarsi 4 or 5 jointed; and the whole dorsal surface flattened. They are poorly represented in this country, but there are several large distinctive species found about dead animals or decaying vegetable matter. A large number of blind Silphids are found in the caves of Europe and America, but I have never found any as Australian cave fauna.
Thirteen species have been described from this country by a number of different writers, chief of which is Blackburn (Trans. Royal Soc. S.A. 1891–94).
Necrodes osculans comes from Queensland; I found it common about Cairns, feeding amongst decaying matter in the scrub. It measures over 1 inch; is a broad flattened beetle of a general black colour; the elytra mottled with dull orange, ribbed, and truncate at the extremity, showing the tip of the abdomen. The head is small, turned down in front, but furnished with large clubbed antennae; the thorax is finely punctured and rounded in front.
Ptomaphila lachrymosa is a dull reddish brown beetle, with the centre of the head and thorax black, the head small and somewhat hidden by the large flattened thorax; the elytra round, somewhat depressed; both marked with irregular parallel black ribs and bosses; they feed about dead animals. Length about 1 inch.
In the following family, Trichopterygidae, only two species are described, one from Tasmania, and the other from West Australia. They are minute beetles with fringed wings, the middle joints of the antennae smallest.
Family 11. Round Fungus Beetles — Scaphididae
The members of this family are small, broad, short insects that live in fungus, and are very active. Macleay described several species from Gayndah (Trans. Ent. Soc. N.S.W. 1871): Reitter and other foreign writers have added to the list.
Scaphidium punctipenne, though described from Queensland, is also found in the neighbourhood of Sydney. It is a small rounded seed-shaped insect, but with slender legs and slightly clubbed antennae; its upper surface is deep orange yellow irregularly barred with black.
Family 12. Mimic Beetles — Histeridae
When touched these beetles contract their legs and pretend to be dead, from which habit they take their family name from Histris, the Latin for a stage mimic. They are shining black, or metallic coloured beetles; many are flattened and broad in shape, with the elytra truncate at the apex, leaving the tip of the abdomen uncovered; the exposed integument is however very much thickened, and all the parts fit close together; the antennae are thick, clubbed at the apex; the legs short and stout. Most of the flattened forms are found under bark, others in or under dead animal matter; both the beetles and their larvae are carnivorous.
This family is well represented here: Macleay described some from Gayndah; Marseul described others in the Annals Museo Genevre 1879, and the Annals Ent. Belg. 1870; Schmidt in the Ent. Nachr. 1892; and a few are described by other writers.
Hololepta sidnensis, one of our commonest species, can be collected in early summer by chopping up the dead grass tree stems; but I have never been able to find the larvae. It measures ½ an inch, and is shining black; it is very much flattened and broad in proportion to its length; two stout horns project in front of the eyes, coming together at the tips; the thorax is slightly impressed in the centre, and punctured on the sides; the elytra is smooth and shining, but the exposed abdominal plates are spotted with large punctures. Many of this genus are found under bark or crawling about on tree trunks.
Platysoma strongulatum is a broadly flattened black insect about ⅙ of an inch long; the head is small; the thorax truncate; the elytra smooth in the centre, with four distinct striae on each side, straight at the apex, with the tip of the abdomen turning downwards. This is another common Sydney species found at the base of the flower stalks of the “grass trees” (Xanthorrhoea).
Saprinus laetus, typical of another group, is a short, thickset, rounded, oval beetle, ¼ of an inch in length, with the upper surface convex; the head is small, shining green; the thorax broad, bright metallic pale copper; and the short truncate elytra and exposed tip of the abdomen deep metallic green. This almost seed-shaped beetle is usually found under dead birds or animals lying in the bush. It has a very wide range over Australia.
Family 13 — Phalacridae
Only one species of this family is listed in Masters’ Catalogue, described by Erichson from Tasmania in 1842; but in Blackburn’s paper (Trans. Royal Soc. S. Australia 1891) 16 new species are described from all parts of Australia. They are short oval beetles, very small, the largest not much over ¹⁄₁₂ of an inch in length; black or brown in colour.
Litochrus palmerstoni is of a uniform ferruginous colour, with the apex of the elytra pale testaceous; without the punctures of the other species; of the typical oval form; and only ⅘ of a line in length and ¹⁄₂₄ of an inch in width. This tiny creature comes from the Northern Territory of S. Australia.
This family is not an important one, but is well represented in Europe and America, where the larvae live in flowers, boring their way down the stems and pupating in earthen cocoons.
Family 14. Fruit Beetles — Nitidulidae
These are all small black or brownish beetles that breed and feed upon decaying vegetable matter, and some are very partial to ripe fruit. Some have well developed wing covers, but in others these are very short, reminding one of the smaller Rove Beetles, but the club of each antennae consists of three joints, and fewer abdominal segments are exposed to view. About eighty species have been described from Australia, chiefly by Reitter (Verh. Ver. Brünn, 1874–75, and other Journals); Murray in his Monograph of the Family; Macleay (Trans. Ent. Soc. N.S.W. 1871); and Blackburn (Trans. Royal Soc. S. Australia 1891).
Brachypeplus binotatus is one of our commonest species, widely distributed over Australia; it is a typical form of the family, about ⅕ of an inch in length; of a general dark brown colour, with reddish brown antennae and legs; the abbreviated wing covers leaving the abdominal segments exposed, the latter marked with deep orange yellow. Olliff (Agricultural Gazette N.S. Wales 1893) describes and figures this beetle and its larva, which he describes as feeding upon the fungus on the damaged sugar cane.
The Genus Carpophilus contains 11 described species, most of which have a wide range over Australia; two are well known about Sydney from their habit of crawling into damaged fruit and feeding round the stone, causing it to decay very rapidly; they are also said to cluster round the fruit stalks, and by gnawing the base cause the fruit to drop. Carpophilus pilipennis is a small reddish brown boat-shaped beetle, with the wing covers cut off at the hind margin, exposing the tip of the abdomen; it measures 1½ lines in length. C. aterrimus is a somewhat larger flatter species of a uniform black colour, with the whole of the upper surface finely punctured; the legs and antennae are reddish brown. The abdomen is not so pointed as in the first species and much more of it is exposed on the dorsal surface. A curious little species, Pocadius pilistriatus, about ⅙ of an inch in length, is an elongate rounded brown beetle clothed with fine hairs. It feeds and breeds in the seed cases of the Kurrajong; the larvae are reddish brown grubs, elongate in form; they have three jointed antennae, and short black jaws, with well developed legs, and the tip of the abdomen bears two pairs of spines, the first pair erect, the second at the extremity but turning upwards.
Family 15 — Trogositidae
These are beetles of moderate size with five jointed tarsi, the first so small that unless closely examined it is not noticeable. They are found chiefly under dead bark or wood, but are carnivorous in their habits, and very dissimilar in form.
The cosmopolitan “Cadelle,” Trogosita mauritanica, frequently found in bagged wheat, where the larvae gnaw out the embryo of the grain, is world wide in its range. It is a flattened, shining, black beetle; it was once placed among the Heteromera; and at first sight might be taken for a flattened carab.
The Genus Leperina contains a number of curious, elongate beetles flattened on the under surface; the dorsal surface is convex, and rounded at the extremities, with the integument covered with mottled grey, brown, and black tufts of scales imitating moss, and probably of a protective character, for they are generally found clinging to bark. Leperina decorata was described by Erichson from Tasmania in 1842, but it has a wide range over the mainland. It measures from ¼ to ½ an inch in length; its ground colour is light chestnut brown mottled with black; the sides of the thorax deeply blotched with creamy white, and the back marked with indistinct patches of whitish scales.
Pascoe described some of ours (Annals of Nat. Hist. 1872), and the Journal of Entomology 1860. Macleay described others in 1871; Reitter in 1876–77; Olliff (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1886); and later Blackburn (Trans. Royal Soc. S.A. 1891).
Family 16 — Colydidae
These are small, reddish brown or black beetles, elongate in form, with four jointed tarsi, the coxae of the two pairs of fore-legs globular, and those of the hind legs transverse. They are usually found under dead or decaying bark, or among rotten wood. Several members of the Genus Bothrideres are found about Sydney; they have the thorax flattened and the elytra ribbed.
About 70 species of this family have been described from this country, chiefly by Macleay 1871; Pascoe in the Journal of Entomology 1860; Reitter in 1877 in several German journals; and later by Blackburn 1891; and Olliff in the Memoirs of the Australian Museum 1889 on species from Lord Howe Island.
Family 17 — Rhysodidae
This family consists of only a few known species; Olliff has described one species, Rhysodes lignarius (Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1885), a pitchy black shining beetle about ⅓ of an inch in length; it was found in rotten wood at Yass, N.S.W.
Family 18. Bark Beetles — Cucujidae
The members of this group are very curious beetles, most of our species being found under dead bark on the trunks of the smooth gums; both the beetles and their larvae have adapted their form in such a remarkable manner to their surroundings that they are often as flat and thin as a bit of paper, while others living in more roomy quarters are quite normal in shape.
Hectarthrum brevifossum is a slender, somewhat cylindrical, shining black beetle, with thickened antennae composed of eleven bead-shaped joints; the head is depressed in front, with the thorax more elongated, and the slender ribbed elytra rounded at the tips.
Platisus integricollis is a reddish brown beetle, the basal joints of the antennae elongated and the apical ones bead-shaped; the head is angular, buried in the short broad thorax; the body is flattened, with the elytra slightly ridged round the edges. The larva is as flat as a knife blade, with a large head armed with stout jaws; the thoracic segments are furnished with short thick legs; it has seven simple flattened abdominal segments, with an eighth spade-shaped one, on which is a four-pronged trident-like process standing up at the apex, and a small spine at either side. The insects both in the beetle and the larval stage are often to be found under the same bit of bark.
Brontes lucius, found in the same situations, is a darker reddish insect with the antennae very long and slender; the front of the thorax is spined on the sides; the elytra slightly convex, elongated and rounded at the extremities. B. militaris can be easily distinguished from the last species by its darker colour, more flattened smooth elytra, with two oval light brown blotches on the basal half of the wing covers. About 60 species are described from Australia; among the chief writers are Grouvelle (Bull. Soc. Ent. France 1877); and other Journals 1876–1883, &c.; Olliff (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1885); Reitter 1878, and Blackburn 1892.
Family 19 — Cryptophagidae
In Masters’ Catalogue only one species (Cnecosa fulvida) is recorded, described by Pascoe in the “Journal of Entomology” 1865, from Sydney. Since then Blackburn has described 12 more species (Trans. Royal Soc. of S.A. 1887). They are all minute beetles which feed upon mould. In Europe the larvae of several genera live in the nests of bumble bees, and the perfect insects in flowers.
Families 20–21 — Lathrididae and Mycetophagidae
These are composed of minute beetles found on fungus. Macleay in 1871 described some; Blackburn others (Trans. Royal Soc. S.A. 1887–1891); most of these were found in fungi or under bark. They are very small, the largest about ⅒ of an inch in length. In Europe the larvae of some species are covered with curious hairs, and the perfect beetles of others live in ants’ nests; but nothing is known about the habits of our species.
Family 22. Bacon Beetles — Dermestidae
This is a well-known group, for the hairy larvae do a great deal of mischief to sheepskins by gnawing holes in them when they are piled on each other; getting into bacon and other animal foods; even gnawing holes in bones. The beetles have somewhat short antennae clubbed at the tips; five jointed tarsi; the coxae of the fore-legs conical, the hind ones cylindrical.
The typical Genus Dermestes contains 5 species found in Australia; most of them have been introduced from other parts of the world, and several have penetrated far into the interior.
Dermestes cadaverinus measures over ⅓ of an inch; the upper surface is clothed with pale pubescence, and the under-surface thickly clothed with white hairs. Its general form is elongate; the head is tucked under the front edge of the thorax, which forms a slight hood.
D. vulpinus is slightly larger; has the same elongate form; is black, with the dorsal surface covered with short brown hairs, and the under surface with more buff coloured pubescence. Both these species have a very wide range, and can be found under dead animals in the bush, in sheepskins, bacon, &c., and I have even taken larvae in bags of grain. Under favourable conditions these beetles increase in countless numbers; quite recently, Mrs. Black, writing from N. Queensland, says that toward the end of the drought when the country was covered with bones and dead stock, whenever the station hands camped to eat their dinners, these beetles would swarm out in thousands from under logs and stones to pick up the bits of food scattered about. Gilbert in Gould’s “Birds of Australia,” records a similar instance on the Hautmann’s-Abrolhos Islands off the coast of W. Australia, a great nesting place for the Noddy Tern, where immense numbers of the young birds are killed by the lizards, which only eat the brain and marrow. The remains cumbering the ground were food for Dermestes lardarius, which swarm over the islands in immense numbers.
This is the common European Bacon Beetle, and is listed in Masters’ Catalogue as found in Australia, but I have never seen an Australian specimen of this very distinct beetle, and think Gilbert may have mistaken the species.
The members of the Genus Trogoderma are small, broad, and rather flattened black beetles, generally found under bark on tree trunks in the dead pupae of moths upon which they feed.
Trogoderma froggatti is short and broad; it measures under ⅙ of an inch; is a shining black beetle, with the elytra clothed with dark scattered hairs; it was bred from larvae taken close to Sydney. T. apicipenne is slightly larger, and darker black, very thickly clothed with black hairs; a dull red blotch on either side of the apical half of the elytra gives it a very distinctive character. These beetles and their hairy larvae feed upon the remains of dead caterpillars under the dead bark, pupae and other organic matter.
The Anthrenus are known as “Museum beetles,” for they are the greatest pests that curators of Museums have to deal with; their small hairy larvae attack every kind of specimen, and are most destructive to pinned insect collections, though the adult beetles are generally found in the gardens frequenting flowers.
Anthrenus varius is our greatest pest; it is an introduced species, variable in size, the largest measuring about 1½ lines; it is almost round, with the small head furnished with clubbed antennae tucked down when at rest or disturbed; the ground colour is black, but it is so thickly clothed with grey and brown pubescence that it has a mottled buff appearance. Blackburn states that this is the species that has been confounded with A. museorum, which he says is not found in Australia. A. nigricans is about the same size; black, with a delicate fascia of fine white hairs which give it a very distinctive character.
About 44 species of Dermestidae are recorded from Australia: Fabricius and Linneaus described the earlier ones: Macleay others from Gayndah 1871. Reitter described more in several German publications: and Blackburn all the later ones (Trans. Royal Soc. S.A. 1891).
Family 23. Pill Beetles — Byrrhidae
These are small beetles, found under stones. They take their popular name from their rounded form, which is more noticeable from the fact that their legs and antennae are retractile. Thirteen species are described from this country.
Microchaetes sphaericus, described by Hope from W. Australia, is also found in N.S. Wales; it is a small, rounded, black beetle, under 2 lines in length; is very rugose on the upper surface, which is covered with tufts of brown scales which give it a curious roughened appearance and a brown tint.
Family 24 — Georyssidae
This family is a small obscure group. They are small beetles with short clubbed antennae, inhabiting damp wet ground. Only a dozen are described from all parts of the world, two of which are peculiar to Australia. King described one from Parramatta under the name of Georyssus australis: Macleay the second from Gayndah, Queensland.
Family 25 — Parnidae
These are aquatic beetles living under stones or close to water; they are thickly clothed with fine silky hairs like a waterproof coat; their antennae are thickened, and sometimes very short. Six species were described by King (Trans. Ent. Soc. N.S.W. 1864); and two others by Messrs. Blackburn and Lea (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1894–95). Most of these belong to the typical Genus Elmis, the members of which are found clinging to stones under water.
Family Lucanidae.
9. Lamprima latreillei (W. S. Macleay).
11. Cladognathus arfakanus (Lansb.).
Family Cetonidae.
4. Trichaulax macleayi (Kratz).
7. Eupoecila inscripta (Janson).
8. Chlorobapta besti (Westwood).
10. Diaphonia olliffiana (Janson).
Family Rhipidophoridae.
2. Pelecotomoides conicollis (Castelnau).
Family Scarabaeidae.
1. Bolboceras proboscidium (Schreibers).
3. Onthophagus australis (Guérin).
5. Trox dohrni (Harold).
Family Tenebrionidae.
6. Zopherosis georgii (White).
(Original photo. Burton.)]
Family 26 — Heteroceridae
This group contains a number of small beetles that are semi-aquatic in their habits; these are also clothed with fine hairs, and have short clubbed antennae with the two basal joints enlarged. They are found burrowing in mud or wet sand close to water. Only seven species are recorded from this country, most of them belonging to the Genus Heterocerus; Westwood described two (Proc. Ent. Soc. London 1874): Macleay another from Gayndah 1871: and Blackburn four others (Trans. Roy. Soc. S.A. 1887–91).
Family 27. Stag Beetles — Lucanidae
This is the first group of the Lamellicorn beetles, which are defined by the structure of their short antennae composed of 9–10 joints ending in a three-jointed lamellated club. In the Stag Beetles the antennae are ten-jointed, and in the typical forms have the mandibles, especially in the males, produced in front of the eyes like horns. Australia is rich in these beetles, both in number and beauty of form and colouration. The chief writers upon them are Macleay (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1885); and Westwood (Trans. Ent. Soc. London 1885–63–71).
Rhyssonotus nebulosus is a dark brown beetle mottled with black upon the dorsal surface; the small narrow head is furnished with projecting horns with several distinct points; the thorax is broad, curiously divided into rounded areas interspersed with depressed punctured patches; the body is rather short; the wing covers very indistinctly ribbed and mottled with black. It measures slightly over 1 inch in length, and has a wide range over N.S. Wales and Southern Queensland. I have bred this beetle from the fleshy white grub of the usual Lamellicorn Beetle type taken under rotten logs.
In the Genus Lamprima we have 12 described species of our beautiful “Gold Beetles,” which in the larval state live in rotten wood, from which the beetles emerge and crawl up the twigs of the young gum saplings; in favourable localities they can often be taken in great numbers while mating. They are all rich metallic green, gold, blue, or coppery in tint; the horns, projecting and turning up in front, are clothed with fine hairs along the inner margin; the thorax is very convex, rounded on the sides; the fore-legs very robust; the body not twice the length of the thorax, and rounded at the apex. Many species are so variable that it is probable that when carefully studied the number of species will be much reduced.
Lamprima latreillei is our commonest species; it measures 1¼ inches in length; the head is rich coppery red, the rest metallic green; the thorax deeply and coarsely punctured. It is however a very variable species both in size and colouration; in a large series we can find them all shades to metallic blue; with stout horns or long horns; and ranging from the dimensions given to ½ an inch smaller.
L. rutilans is the southern form found in Victoria: M. insularis is only found in Lord Howe Island. Phalacrognathus muelleri, one of the largest and most beautiful of all our beetles, was named by Macleay after Baron von Mueller, from specimens obtained from Cairns, North Queensland; it could be best described as a giant gold beetle, 2 inches long; of a brilliant green and coppery red tint. The male has the horns greatly produced in front of the head.
Lissapterus howittanus measures nearly 1½ inches, and is broad in proportion; the abdomen is shorter than the head and thorax combined; the horns curve round in front and are thickened and serrate at the base; the rugose head forms a ridge in front, fitting closely into the punctured thorax. The female is about 1 inch in length; has the head more flattened, and furnished with short, stout, toothed mandibles. This curious beetle is peculiar to Victoria.
The Genus Ceratognathus contains 7 species of our smallest Stag Beetles, none of which measure ½ an inch; they are black or brown; the mandibles of the male are produced into short curved horns with a square flange on the outer basal margins. I obtained the larvae of the species named after me by Blackburn in considerable numbers in the outer bark of Eucalyptus robusta. The larva is a white, shining, semitransparent grub with a slender abdomen; the pale brownish head is round and slightly elongate, with stout three-toothed mandibles; with long slender legs; and with the dorsal surface of the body clothed with fine ferruginous spines interspersed with hairs.
Figulus regularis is a small, shining, elongate black beetle measuring slightly over ½ an inch; it has short angular mandibles, finely punctured thorax, and striated elytra. It has a wide range over Australia, and is very common under decaying logs.
The Passalides are a group of what might be called flattened hornless Stag Beetles (some of very large size), that are found under rotting logs. Aulacocyclus kaupi, measuring 1¼ inches, is shining black; has short curved mandibles in front; the head is excavated in the centre, with a short, bent, finger-like horn curving forward above the hollow; the thorax is broad; and the elytra ribbed. The larva is dull white, long, slender, and somewhat cylindrical; it has a small head, and very long legs furnished with sickle-shaped claws. When full grown, they pupate in elongate, oval, smooth, brown cocoons of earth and woody matter.
Kaup in 1871 published a Monograph of the Passalidae, in which many of our species are described.
Family 28. Digger and Chafer Beetles — Scarabaeidae
The group contains an immense number of handsome beetles, among which are some of the giants of the beetle world, though there are also many tiny ones; most of them in the earlier stages of their lives are thick, fleshy, white grubs that live in the ground or decaying woody matter, and sometimes do a great deal of damage to the roots of grass and cultivated crops. Though these beetles vary much in form and size, they have the antennae always produced at the tip into a laminate or pectinate club, which when expanded forms a comb or brush-like process.
Kirby divides this family into eleven sub-families; Westwood into ten; while Sharp reduces them to five, which is quite sufficient for our purpose.
The first comprise the Coprides, or true Dung-burying Beetles; they feed upon animal droppings, boring vertical shafts beneath fresh dung, and carrying portions several inches under ground; on this they not only feed, but also deposit their eggs in rounded balls of the same material. In the more tropical parts they are also attracted to dead animals, which they feed on in the same manner. They have a shovel-like rim round the front of the head, often ornamented above with spines or horns both on the head and thorax, particularly in the male sex; and their legs are admirably adapted for digging.
The Sacred Beetle, worshipped and carved on the monuments by the ancient Egyptians, Ateuchus sacer, is typical of the group.
Cephalodesmius armiger is a black beetle, about ⅓ of an inch in length; it has a small head produced in front along the outer margin into four spines or horns standing out straight in front, the two middle ones longest; the thorax is finely punctured; and the wing covers are slightly striated.
Temnoplectron rotundum, about the same length, is a shining black beetle; the head is flattened and turned down; the whole of the dorsal surface is smooth, and the wing covers are oval toward the apex.
The Genus Onthophagus contains most of our typical Dung Beetles; over 60 species have been described, chiefly by Macleay, 1864–1887–1888, and Harold 1869.
Onthophagus pentacanthus is ¾ inch in length; the male has a large slender horn rising up from the centre of the head; a curved shorter one on either side; and a short two-pronged process in the centre of the thorax, which is finely granulated above, and clothed with reddish hairs on the under side.
O. kershawi has the head armed with a similar horn but without the side ones on the thorax; the central ones are longer and more slender than those on the process of the previous species. O. cuniculus, one of our commonest species, is only about ¼ inch long; the head and thorax are bright metallic green; the central portion of the latter is produced (in the male) into a conical point; the wing covers are shining black and rugose. Another common species, O. granulatus, is slightly smaller; it has the dorsal surface flattened; the head and thorax dull metallic blue; and the wing covers are mottled, light chocolate brown and finely granulated; the whole insect is covered with short reddish hairs, lightest on the dorsal surface. O. rufosignatus, which I once took in numbers busily engaged burying a dead wallaby in N.W. Australia, is slightly over ¼ inch in length; it is black with the centre of the thorax and sides of the elytra richly blotched with red.
The members of the Genus Bolboceras are even more remarkable in regard to the peculiar forms into which the head and thorax are produced in many species; most of them are reddish brown, and thickly clothed with coarse reddish hairs on the under surface. In structure they are somewhat similar to the former species. They are commonly taken at night flying to the lamp or camp fire.
Bolboceras sloanei is a broad hemispherical beetle, just under 1 inch in length; the male has a great horn standing up in the middle of the head, and a shorter one on either side of the thorax, with an excavation above and below them; the female is about the same size without any appendages, and the front of the thorax is hollowed out and the hind portion very rugose. B. proboscidium is common in the southern districts; it is smaller than the last species; of a darker reddish tint. The male has the front of the head produced into a lance-shaped process, standing out straight; this tapers toward the tip, which turns down like a hook, and has a short blunt spine on the upper surface. The female has a small truncate head, quite unlike the male. About 30 species were described in Masters’ Catalogue; Blackburn in his Monograph of the group lists 43 species (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1904).
Members of the Genus Trox feed chiefly on decaying animal matter, and are to be found under dead animals, and a few in caves among the accumulated dung of bats; they are curious dull brown insects, convex and rounded on the upper surface; the head is so small and retractile that it appears to be wanting. Trox dohrni, from Central Australia, one of our largest species, is just under 1 inch; is almost black, covered with a regular armour plate of shining black bosses and ridges all over the dorsal surface. T. australasiae, our common species, is about half the length, and is dull brown, with the bosses on the elytra more regular and ridged.
The Melolonthides are mostly small beetles with the tip of the abdomen not always covered; they feed chiefly upon the foliage of plants. The Genus Phyllotocus contains about 27 described species of small reddish brown beetles with long black or yellow legs: some species are very abundant about Sydney, swarming over the flowers of native scrubs; they even come to the garden plants to feed upon the honey.
Phyllotocus macleayi has even been found swarming round bee-hives, probably attracted by the smell of the honey. It is a smooth, shining, yellowish brown beetle about ⅓ of an inch in length, with the apical portion of the wing covers blackened. P. marginatus is smaller than the last, and of the usual dull reddish colour; the head, centre of thorax, and stripe down the centre of the wing covers black; the whole lightly clothed with fine hairs. Diphucephala aurulenta, typical of another group of bright, metallic coloured, broad bodied beetles, measures ¼ of an inch in length, and has the dorsal surface of a rich reddish-copper tint, thickly and coarsely punctured; the under surface and legs are deep green, clothed with fine grey hairs. It is common upon the foliage of the black wattle about Sydney. D. rufipes, a smaller beetle, is coppery green with reddish legs; is not uncommon about Sydney. D. colaspidoides, a southern species, is metallic green; the thorax smooth; the elytra deeply and thickly marked with punctured striae. Maechidius tibialis, representing another group, is a flattened, reddish brown beetle over ⅓ of an inch; the head is produced into two shell-like flanges in front of the eyes; the thorax is finely punctured; and the elytra ribbed, with closely punctured striae. I have found both the beetle and its larva, a soft white grub, in numbers in the open galleries of the termitaria built by our common White Ant (Termes lacteus) in the Shoalhaven district, N.S.W., where they seemed to live in harmony with the swarms of White Ants.
Xylonychus eucalypti is a large cockchafer-like beetle about 1 inch long; it is of a delicate pale grass-green colour; its under surface and legs darker and thickly clothed with fine hairs. This beetle feeds about Sydney upon the foliage of the Swamp Mahogany (Eucalyptus robusta), and is not uncommon in early summer. The members of the Genus Liparetrus are small, dark reddish brown, or almost black beetles, often thickly clothed with fine hairs; the wing covers are generally shorter than the abdomen. Many species swarm over the tops of the young gum trees devouring the foliage. Nearly 100 species of this extensive group have been described from Australia, chiefly by Macleay and Blackburn (Proc. Linn. Soc. of N.S. Wales, 1886–1888).
Liparetrus marginipennis, common about Sydney, is black; it measures under ⅓ of an inch; the elytra, except the basal edges, are dark reddish brown; the whole insect is thickly clothed with light brown hairs that form a fringe round it. L. hispidus is a smaller dark brown beetle, thickly clothed with dull yellow hairs.
Lepidoderma albo-hirtum is a large cockchafer; it measures 1¼ inches; all the dorsal surface of the head and thorax and both dorsal and ventral portions of abdomen are reddish brown; ventral surface of head, thorax and legs black. The whole of the upper and portion of the under surface are so thickly clothed with fine pale scales that it has a uniform grey tint. The larva, a large white grub, is a well-known pest to the Queensland sugar planters, for it eats off the roots of the growing cane; they are so numerous in some districts that as much as a shilling a pint is paid for these sugar cane grubs.
The Rutelides comprise a number of large beetles, popularly called Cockchafers; some species swarm out in immense numbers, stripping the foliage off the native bush and sometimes attacking the shade-trees in the gardens. Most of their larvae are large, white, subterranean grubs, either feeding on roots of grass and plants, or living in or under decaying logs. Dr. Ohaus has just published a “Revision des Anoplognathides” 1904, in which he describes 72 species included in 13 genera. Repsimus aeneus has a dark blue to coppery tint; the tip of the abdomen is reddish, and the hind legs are thickened. They are found clinging to low bushes, and are common about Sydney.
Calloodes grayanus is a very handsome bright green beetle with the outer margins of the thorax and wing covers edged with yellow; it measures 1¼ inches long; is found in Queensland, but seldom in numbers. The two beautiful, little, metallic gold coloured species placed by Macleay in this genus have been removed by Ohaus into Anoplognathus, which now contains 41 species. Among these are our large reddish brown cockchafers. A. viridaeneus, the “King-beetle,” is our largest cockchafer; it measures 1½ inches and is broad in proportion; has a general bright metallic reddish golden sheen; and the tip of the abdomen is deep green. It is usually found clinging to the foliage of the smaller gum trees in early summer. A. velutinus takes its name from the velvety patches of curious little white scales scattered all over its dull brown coat; it is found about Sydney, but is not plentiful.
A. porosus is a light brown beetle; the wing covers are marked with tiny dark spots that form irregular, short, parallel lines; the head and thorax are shining; it is ¾ of an inch in length. It, and A. analis, a large reddish shining beetle furnished with a tuft of hairs at the tip of the abdomen, are two of our commonest species; their larvae have been found destroying strawberry plants by eating off their roots; and they are frequently met with when digging over the garden in early summer.
Anoplostethus opalinus, just under 1 inch in length, is a very beautiful pale opaline green beetle, and is peculiar to Western Australia.
The Dynastides contain the giants of the family, and in several genera the males have the head and thorax greatly enlarged and produced into blunt spines and horns; while the female has them of the usual rounded form. Oryctes barbarossa is one of our largest black lamellicorns; it comes from N. Australia. Pentadon australis is a shining black beetle about ¾ of an inch in length, which has been found damaging young maize plants about Sydney. The Queensland Elephant Beetle, Xylotrupes australicus, in the larval state feeds upon decaying vegetable matter, from which the beetles emerge and climb up the first tree to hand, and upon which they cling during the day, but come buzzing round to the lamps at night. The male measures 2 inches in length; is of a uniform black colour; the head curves out in front into a double-pronged horn; and the front of the thorax is produced into a second swollen one curving downward over the horns on the head, arcuate and toothed on either side of the tip. The female as usual in this group is smaller, and the head and thorax are of the ordinary rounded structure.
The Cetonides comprise the beautiful “Rose Chafers,” with their shorter, broader, flattened bodies, small heads, and the angular thorax broadest behind. Australia is rich in these flower-haunting beetles, and some species are very abundant in the summer months. A great number were at one time placed in the Genus Schizorrhina, but in 1880 Kraatz in a paper on the revision of the family (Deutsche Ent. Zeit. xxiv.) divided them into a great many new genera, in some cases with very little reason.
The members of the Genus Lomaptera are chiefly found in the more tropical parts of this continent, and are easily distinguished from the other groups by the shape of the thorax, the hind margin produced into an angular wedge into the centre of the elytra; while in the other typical Rose Chafers the thorax is truncate, and a wedge-shaped piece separated from the thorax occupies the centre of the back. Lomaptera wallacei is of the usual flattened form; uniform rich shining green; and measures just an inch in length. It is found upon flowers in the tropical scrubs of North Queensland. L. duboulayi, about the same size, is of a duller green tint, with the outer margin of the head, thorax, elytra and under-surface dull yellow: L. cinnamea, slightly smaller, is of a uniform shining reddish brown colour.
Dilochrosis atripennis is one of our largest typical cetonids; it measures over 1½ inches in length and is broad in proportion; it is shining black, with the sides of the thorax and elytra, except a stripe down the centre (broadest in front), rich reddish brown. It is not uncommon about Cairns, N. Queensland, and ranges down, according to Masters, to the extreme north of N.S. Wales. The Fiddler, Eupoecila australasiae, about ¾ of an inch in length, is black and reddish brown, marked upon the thorax and elytra with green stripes, forming a fanciful resemblance to a lyre upon the back, from which it takes its popular name. The larvae of this and the following species, (thick fleshy white grubs) feed in the rotting trunks of dead grass trees, forming stout oval cocoons in the larval stage; and the beetles are very abundant upon the Angophora flowers in the early summer.
Micropoecila cincta is another common species about Sydney; is slightly smaller; of a general black colour, the outer edges of the thorax and wing covers broadly margined with reddish yellow; and its life history and habits are identical with the “Fiddler.”
Polystigma punctata is one of our smaller common species; is of a dull yellow colour irregularly but finely spotted all over the upper surface with black dots. A second species, described under the name of P. octopunctata, is I think only a variety; my specimens all come from the Shoalhaven, N.S.W. Cacochroa gymnopleura, about the same size, is black, rather downy on the under surface; and is remarkable for having a variety as common as itself, with reddish brown thorax and elytra.
The members of the Genus Trichaulax are remarkable for having the elytra deeply furrowed, and these depressions filled with close short hairs. They are all large fine beetles over an inch in length; Trichaulax philipsii, taken about Sydney on the flowers of the blood-wood late in the summer, is marked with grey hairs. T. marginipennis is common to N.S. Wales and Queensland; it has bright reddish hairs completely clothing the tips of the wing covers and abdomen.
Diaphonia dorsalis is a large common species, of a general black colour, with the upper surface of the thorax and elytra yellowish brown variably marked with black in the centre. It often comes flying about the garden with a loud hum, and even sometimes comes in through the open window.
D. olliffiana is a very rare species about the same size, with the upper surface reddish brown and the wing covers irregularly marked with black blotches. All the specimens known, about half a dozen in number, come from the same locality, Colo Vale, N.S.W., and nothing is known about their habits. Glycyphana brunnipes is common on the flowering scrub about Sydney, and has a wide range round the coast of Australia; it measures about ⅓ of an inch, and varies from dull brown to green in colour, irregularly spotted and marked.
Family 29. Jewel Beetles — Buprestidae
This is one of our largest and most typical groups of the Coleoptera, containing a great number of large beetles rich with metallic tints, chiefly found upon flowering shrubs, and most plentiful on the coastal districts of Victoria, New South Wales, and West Australia. They are elongate in form, with the head short, fitting closely into the broader thorax, and furnished with large eyes and slender, slightly serrate antennae. The abdomen is long with closely fitting wing covers, and well-developed wings which enable them to fly well, though they usually drop to the ground when disturbed. The larva is a slender flattened white grub with small black jaws and head; the thoracic segments are very broad behind and rounded to the much narrower abdominal segments. They are wood borers, feeding in the sapwood under the bark, and finally burrowing into the solid timber where they pupate; some of the smaller ones feed in dead wood; and a few form regular galls upon the roots or branchlets of shrubs.
Family Buprestidae.
1. Stigmodera fortnumi (Hope).
2. Stigmodera macularia (Donov.).
3. Stigmodera pascoci (Saunders).
4. Stigmodera thoracica (Saunders).
5. Cyria imperialis (Donov.).
6. Stigmodera variabilis (Donov.).
7. Calodema regalis (Lap. et Gory).
8. Chalcophora vittata (Waterhouse).
9. Julodimorpha bakewelli (White).
(Original photo. Burton.)]
The Banksia beetle, Cyria imperialis, has a wide range and is common about Sydney upon the foliage of the stunted honeysuckle bushes (Banksia); the larvae feed in the stems. It measures 1½ inches in length; is of a uniform shining black colour, richly marked on the upper surface with bright yellow forming four irregular bands across the elytra, and the under surface is lightly clothed with grey hairs. The Genus Diadoxus contains two very distinct species, the larvae of which feed chiefly on the stems of our native cypress pines, and sometimes attack and destroy introduced pine trees. Diadoxus scalaris, very variable in size, measuring from ¾ to 1¼ inches, is a slender pale yellow beetle, with the hind margin of the head and thorax marked with black, and the wing covers so thickly mottled with reddish brown that the yellow only forms a row of blotches down the back. It has a wide range from N.S. Wales to West Australia. Diadoxus erythrurus known in the west as the “pine scrub beetle,” is a much smaller insect slightly over ½ an inch; the head and thorax are almost black; the wing covers are dark, the basal portion has a double blotch of yellow on each side followed by a row on either side of three spots; the under surface has a greenish tint when alive. The larvae of this species first feed round the stem under the bark, cutting the sap wood, and where the infested tree is small, cause it to snap off.
The large rich metallic green or coppery Chalcophora are more tropical beetles, the largest of which are restricted to Queensland and North Australia; Masters lists 24 species in his catalogue, chiefly described by Saunders (Trans. Ent. Soc. London 1872), and Waterhouse in the same Journal three years later.
Chalcophora vittata measures nearly 1¾ inches in length, and is broad in proportion; its general colour is deep metallic green, with the head and thorax shaded with rich coppery tints; the elytra are finely ribbed and are powdered with a yellow pubescence lining the parallel striae, and also forming two spots on the sides. Chalcophora farinosa is a smaller and more slender species with a narrow thorax, and pointed wing covers; in the neighbourhood of Cairns, N.Q., I used to take them in the early morning resting on the wild banana leaves.
Nascio parryi is a small black beetle with a long thorax of a uniform width; the wing covers are short in proportion, and curiously marked with reddish orange. It is generally found upon the foliage of eucalypts, but nothing is known about its life history. The members of the Genus Melobasis, of which about 30 have been described, are small, brilliantly coloured metallic green and gold beetles. Melobasis splendida, not much over ¼ of an inch in length, is bright green, the thorax and elytra marbled with dull purple. The larvae feed in the dead branches of Acacia longifolia.
Julodimorpha bakewelli is found in South and Western Australia; it is a large handsome beetle with a deep coppery red thorax and deep yellow wing covers. It is elongate, but more cylindrical in form than the Stigmodera.
The typical Australian Genus Stigmodera contains about 240 described species which are found in open scrubby country where flowering shrubs are abundant; the extensive scrubs round Sydney, and similar class of country on the west coast of the continent are the head quarters of most of the larger species. Stigmodera tibialis measures 2 inches in length, and is broad in proportion; the head, thorax and under surface black, with the wing covers reddish chestnut with two irregular bands of dull orange yellow across the apical half. S. heros is half an inch longer, one of the giants of the group; it has the under surface dark bronzy brown, the dorsal surface deep dull red; the thorax finely punctured, and the elytra coarsely striated. Both these beetles range from South to Western Australia. S. pascoei is a handsome rare species from Western Australia, measuring under 1 inches in length; it is of a rich yellow tint with the upper surface of the head, thorax, and legs rich metallic coppery red, and the apical third of the finely striated elytra black with a fiery red sheen. S. thoracica, slightly smaller, is black on the under surface except the sides of the thorax and tip of abdomen; the dorsal surface is yellow, except the head, a band through the centre of the thorax, and the tip of the wing covers which are bluish black. S. fortnumi is one of the few large species found in the interior; it measures 1¾ inches in length, and is broad in proportion; the under surface is rich metallic green marked with yellow; the upper surface yellow with the greater part of the thorax and three broad bands across the elytra deep metallic blue.
Stigmodera grandis sometimes measures 2 inches, and is the largest species found about Sydney; its general colour is dark bronzy brown with the outer edges of the thorax and elytra margined with yellow. The common jewel beetle, Stigmodera variabilis, is very abundant when the Angophora is in bloom; its general colour on the under surface, head and thorax is bronzy black, with the edge of the latter and the wing covers bright yellow; the markings upon the latter are most variable; specimens are sometimes thickly barred with black, others without a spot upon them, so that it is difficult to get two alike. S. macularia is purple to black, with the wing covers bright yellow deeply pitted all over with purple dots. S. jacquinoti might be easily mistaken for the last, which it resembles both in size and markings, but the tips of the wing covers are produced into sharp spines; and the markings are coarser; it is a much rarer beetle than the former, which is one of the commonest large species. S. gratiosa is the type of a group from W. Australia, all of a rich metallic green tint with deeply punctured wing covers; it has the head and thorax bronzy green and very finely punctured, with the elytra green and very coarsely punctured; its length is about ½ an inch, and it is short and broad in proportion. This brilliant little beetle is plentiful in some districts, and specimens set in gold are often used for earrings and brooches, for which its solid integument makes it adaptable.
Calodema regalis from the scrubs of Southern Queensland and the extreme north of N.S. Wales, is possibly our most beautiful beetle in shape, size, and colour. Measuring nearly 2 inches in length and broad in proportion, the whole of the under surface, head and thorax are rich metallic green, with two conspicuous blotches of dark red on the dorsal surface of the thorax; the wing covers are bright yellow, almost smooth, slightly spined at the tips, with a very fine pencil of green down the sides of the inner edges.
The members of the Genera Ethon and Paracephala form galls; the first are short, thickset beetles of a dull coppery tint, with wavy markings on the wing covers. Ethon corpulentus and E. marmoreum make rounded galls upon the roots of Dillwynia cricifolia, sometimes as many as twenty on one plant clustering round the base of the stem. E. affinis forms galls upon the stems of Pultenea stipularis. Paracephala cyaneipennis forms galls on the branches of the stunted Casuarina (C. distyla), growing about Sydney. It is a slender dull metallic green beetle about ⅓ of an inch in length. The Genus Cisseis contains a number of very pretty little metallic tinted beetles, the larvae of which feed in the wood of Acacias and other small shrubs, and the perfect beetles feed upon the foliage. Cisseis 12-maculata, a pretty deep blue-black beetle covered with large white spots, is found on the grass tree; C. leucosticta, C. similis, and C. maculata upon the black wattle.
Family 30. False Click Beetles — Eucnemidae
The beetles in this group form a sort of connecting link between the Flower Beetles and the Clicks: many of them are very like the latter, but they cannot jump; they have a large terminal joint in the palpus, and the antennae when resting are hidden in the grooves along the under side of the thorax.
Sixteen species are listed in Masters’ Catalogue, all of which, with one exception, are described in Bonvouloir’s Monograph of the family (Annals of the Soc. Entom. France 1871–7).
Family 31. Click Beetles — Elateridae
These beetles are found in many different situations, upon flowers, hidden under bark, or in cracks on the tree trunks. They are well known from their habit of flying in to the lamp at night, and falling on their backs go skipping all over the table. They are elongate in form, with slender serrate antennae, and a small head deeply sunk into the thorax, which is rounded in front, truncate on the hind margin and with a slight spine on the edge; while on the under side the thorax is furnished with a process that fits into a groove in the first segment of the abdomen, which enables it to get enough leverage, by pressing the head down when on its back, to jump a considerable distance upward. The larvae are slender, cylindrical, shining brown grubs popularly known as “Wire Worms,” and some European species are said to do considerable damage by eating off the roots of grass and crops.
About 350 species have been described from Australia, most of them dull brown or black in colour, though a few are brightly tinted or marked. Agrypnus mastersi measures 1 inch, and is of a uniform brown colour clothed with fine buff down; it ranges from Queensland to Western Australia. The Genus Lacon contains a great number of short, broad, dull brown clicks usually found under bark or stones. Lacon caliginosus, half an inch in length, is dull brown; it ranges from Tasmania to Queensland. Alaus gibboni comes from the Richmond River; it measures 1¾ inches, and is broad in proportion; its true colour is black, but it is so thickly clothed with fine short grey down that it is almost a dull white. A. sericeus is a smaller beetle clothed with an admixture of buff and chocolate down; I have found them pupating in decaying bark on dead trees on the Richmond River. Tetralobus cunninghami is typical of a group of the large cylindrical “clicks,” in which the male has feather-like antennae, and the thorax is rounded. It is 1½ inches long, dark brown, with the under surface of the thorax clothed with reddish hairs. These large clicks are generally found in the interior on the trunks of trees. The Genus Monocrepidius contains a number of slender black or brown insects usually living on flowers or foliage. Ophidius histrio, 1 inch long, is black, richly marked with dark yellow lines forming four parallel bars down the thorax, and a more irregular lance-shaped pattern on the wing covers; this is another fine species from the Northern Rivers, N.S.W. Anilicus semiflavus is found on the Angophora flowers about Sydney; it is ½ an inch long, black, with the basal half of the elytra bright red.
Family 32. Feather Horns — Rhipidoceridae
This is not a big family; the species are confined to the warmer parts of the world, and are chiefly distinguished by the peculiar structure between the tarsal claws, and the beautiful feathery antennae of the males. Rhipidocera mystacina, our typical form, is ¾ of an inch in length, elongate in form, with narrow sloping thorax and large feather-like antennae; the general colour is black, with the sides of the thorax and whole of the wing covers thickly spotted with white downy dots. I have often taken this insect in numbers in the North-West of Victoria.
Family 33. Fire-Fly Beetles — Malacodermidae
The members of this family have a softer integument than most beetles. They do not all emit light; the true “fire-flies” and “glow-worms” belong to the sub-family Lampyrides.
The Genus Metriorrhynchus contains about 50 small, elongate, flattened beetles of a dull red colour marked with black; the wing covers are deeply ribbed but soft and flabby. The larvae are curious, smoky black creatures with blunt spines along the sides of the body, and live under stones or logs. M. rufipennis, one of the largest, is ¾ of an inch in length; the head and thorax are black and roughened; the wing covers are light red, deeply ribbed and reticulated: Waterhouse figured and described many of these (Trans. Entom. Soc. 1877). Our true fire-flies belong to the Genera Luciola and Atyphella. On these Olliff has written an interesting paper entitled “New Species of Lampyridae with notes on the Mount Wilson Fire-fly” (Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1889). Our fire-flies are small, light brown beetles, which during the day cling to the foliage, flying about at night, emitting a bright flash of phosphorescent light from the tip of the abdomen as they move their wings. Several species are found on the Blue Mountains and in the tropical scrubs of North Queensland; they are very brilliant after night-fall: Luciola flavicollis, ¾ of an inch, is our common species. The Soldier Beetles, chiefly belonging to the Genera Telephorus and Selenurus, are common upon low bushes and flowering shrubs. Telephorus pulchellus, ½ an inch in length, is a slender, dull orange coloured beetle; the dorsal surface is shining blue black except the apical half of the thorax, which is bright yellow. This beetle sometimes appears in great numbers; I have seen the Melaleuca scrub on the Blue Mountains black with them.
Family 34. Hunting Beetles — Cleridae
There are many handsome little beetles in this family which spend their time hunting over logs, tree trunks, or in flowers to catch smaller insects which they devour; most of them lay their eggs in the bodies of the pupae of wood moths and other insects. A freshly fallen tree is a good locality to look for Clerids, as they find many small beetles attracted by the withering bark: in Europe the larvae of several groups infest the nests of wild bees.
Natalis porcata, 1 inch in length, is black covered with a whitish down, and is found under the dead bark on tree trunks; it is probably parasitic upon the grubs of longicorn beetles (Phoracantha). Cleromorpha novemguttatus measures only ⅕ of an inch; it is rich metallic blue, lightly clothed with black hairs, and the elytra spotted on either side with white dots: it is common in the flowers of the Angophora in early summer. The Genus Aulicus contains a number of bright metallic green or blue beetles which live on flowering shrubs; about 20 species are described, chiefly by Cheverolet (Memoirs of the Cleridae 1878). Aulicus instabilis, one of the smallest, is only ¼ of an inch in length; it has a wide range over Australia. Trogodendron fasciculatum is another widely distributed species, and may be often seen flying about in the height of summer; if captured it bites most viciously. I have on several occasions pulled its body off, leaving the head with the jaws buried in my finger: it is parasitic on the pupae of our large wood moths. It is variable in size, about 1 inch in length, thickset and broad in proportion; is dark brown, with bright yellow antennae, and broad black fasciae at the base and apical half of the elytra. Zenithicola obesus, ⅓ of an inch in length, is like the last in general form, but with dull yellow thorax and shining black elytra marked with white: Z. australis, a slightly larger species, has a black thorax. The members of the Genus Eleale are elongate, dark metallic green or blue beetles clothed with fine hairs and deeply punctured wing covers; they also live among flowers. Tarsostenus zonatus is typical of the small, slender, cylindrical clerids that infest the gall-making coccids, and are often bred from these galls. It has a bright reddish brown head and thorax, and green wing covers barred across the centre with white. Lemidia hilaris, ⅙ of an inch long, is a short broad beetle of a shining black tint, with the basal half of the elytra red. The Red-legged Ham Beetle, Necrobia rufipes, an introduced species, is found all over the world. In the interior it swarms under dead animals, feeding upon fresh bones; and is also often found about cheese and other preserved foods in the pantry.
Family 35. Anobiums — Ptinidae
These beetles are small insects, with the head hidden under the thorax; they have filiform, pectinate or slightly clubbed antennae; and several species are world wide in their range, for as they live in all kinds of dried food stuffs they are easily introduced into new countries. Gibbium scotius is a curious little beetle hardly over ¹⁄₁₂ of an inch in length, with a bright shining brown body, and the legs and antennae covered with yellow scales; it feeds upon feathers, and is often found in birds’ nests. Anobium paniceum is known as the “Biscuit Weevil,” but feeds upon all kinds of things; I have found it in boots, seeds, drugs, botanical specimens, and it is said to have been found burrowing through sheet lead. The Cigarette Beetle, Lasioderma serricorne, is another little brown beetle common in Sydney in waste tobacco. Olliff has described a number of Australian species (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1886); and Westwood others (Ent. Soc. 1869), among which are several members of the Genus Ectrephes, which live in ants’ nests.
Family 36. Powderpost Beetles — Cioidae
Though small in size and number of species, these are very important beetles on account of the damage they do to rattan furniture and sapwood in unseasoned timber. Lyctus brunneus, a small elongated, reddish brown beetle about ⅙ of an inch in length, lives and breeds in wood, and is only too common about Sydney. A second species has been described from South Australia by Blackburn.
Family 37. Auger Beetles — Bostrychidae
These beetles are easily recognised by their curious cowled thorax, with the head turned down beneath, and the last 3 joints of the antennae forming a well-defined club; the body is long and cylindrical, adapted for burrowing in dead wood. Specimens of these beetles can generally be found upon fallen trees or freshly-cut timber. Bostrychopsis jesuita, one of the largest of the group, about ½ an inch in length, is black, cylindrical, with the rounded thorax rugose in front, and the tip of the wing covers truncate. Bostrychus gibbicollis, about ⅓ of an inch, is dark reddish brown, with a spined thorax and the tips of the wing covers produced into blunt teeth. B. cylindricus, about the same size and similar colour, has elytra furnished with three curled spines on each side. It has been found damaging wine casks. In the Genera Apate and Rhizopertha, also found in dead timber, we have a typical form in Apate collaris, measuring ¼ of an inch in length, with a dull yellow thorax, dark brown wing covers spined at the tips.
Family 38. Mealworm Beetles — Tenebrionidae
This is a very large family of beetles, generally dull brown or black in colour, but varying much in shape; many of the more typical forms are found under logs and stones, and might easily be mistaken at first sight for carnivorous carab beetles until the mouth parts and head are noticed. They have somewhat thickened antennae placed on the sides of the head; some have wings, others are wingless; most of them are slow, heavy beetles, very easily captured. The larvae are usually slender shining cylindrical brown worm-like creatures living in rotten wood, of which the introduced Mealworm is a typical example. Our species have been described by a great many English and foreign writers, chief among which are Pascoe, in the Journal of Entomology 1869, and Annals of Natural History 1869–80; Hope in the Transactions of the Entomological Society of London 1842–48; Bates in the same journal 1873; and later on in the Proceedings of the Australian Societies by Macleay and Blackburn. Carter has within this last year described a number of new species (Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1905–6).
The Ironbark Beetle, Zopherosis georgii, is found in the northern scrubs of N.S. Wales, generally climbing on tree trunks; it is an elongated, flattened, dull brown beetle, slightly over 1 inch in length; the antennae thickened, and the whole of the upper surface covered with rounded irregular knobs; it is not unlike a caricature of a large click beetle.
The members of the Genus Pterohelaeus are smooth, shining, tortoise-shaped black beetles, found under dead bark on the trunks of trees. P. piceus, common in S. Australia and N.S. Wales, is just under 1 inch in length, but broad in proportion.
Helaeus subserratus, from Western Australia, is typical of a very curious group not only wingless, but having the elytra and abdominal segments soldered together into a broad flattened box with a wide thin flange running right round, continued round the thorax, and overlapping in front of the head, which latter is turned down and is thus situated in a regular frame; this one is dark brown, with the outer flange lighter coloured; it measures 1⅓ inches in length, and is broad and rounded in form. These beetles are usually found in the driest parts of the interior, where they live under stones or logs among the dust, and in spite of their size, remain so motionless that they can be very easily overlooked.
Saragus floccosus, found on tree trunks in the north of N.S.W., is a smaller tortoise-shaped insect, under ¾ of an inch; is convex and keeled down the centre of the thorax; and the elytra have a more narrow flange running right round but curving in and rounded on either side of the head. When alive, it has the whole of the upper surface covered with loose flocculent matter like soft sawdust, evidently as a protective covering, but this is easily brushed off when dead. Hypaulax tenuistriata is one of the common large black beetles found under dead bark; it measures about 1 inch in length; the head is small, projecting; the thorax broad, rounded, shining; and the broad wing covers are distinctly ribbed with punctured striae.
Chartopteryx childreni is one of our most remarkable and rare species; it is 1 inch long; the only specimen I have seen alive, I caught alighting on a tree trunk at Mosman, near Sydney; it is elongate, broad, oval in form, with the head and thorax turned down, and the convex, shining, black elytra deeply punctured and clothed with dull yellow moss-like material; the head and thorax are ornamented with fine white hairs, forming an elongated mark on either side of the latter and two parallel lines down the centre of the head and thorax.
Blepegenes aruspex is a shining coppery black coloured beetle measuring ¾ of an inch; it is slender in form, remarkably like a carab, with a small thorax that is produced into a spine on either side; the elytra are deeply ribbed; it is found under logs in the Illawarra district, N.S.W.
Cardiothorax howitti is also found under logs; it is an elongate beetle, black with a dull purple tint on the thorax, which is flattened and almost round, a regular rim running round the margin; it is arcuate behind the head, and produced into a spine on the hind margins; the wing covers are elongated to the apex, and ribbed. The members of the extensive Genus Adelium are found under logs; some species are quite common, clustering together in considerable numbers; they are all black or coppery tinted. These beetles are about ¾ of an inch in length; the thorax is roughened, and the wing covers more or less striated.
The Genus Chalcopterus, which now includes most of those described as Amarygmus, are black or brightly metallic coloured beetles; the head and thorax are small and curve downward; the wing covers are large, convex, and pointed at the tips. They are found crawling about on tree trunks, or hidden under dead bark, and give out a very pungent offensive odour when handled. Chalcopterus variabilis measures ½ an inch in length; its head and thorax are black, the elytra rich coppery red, and it is common about the Sydney scrubs.
The common Mealworm, Tenebrio molitor, has a world-wide range; it was introduced into Australia at a very early date, and not long ago a packet of seeds imported from England was found on examination by one of the inspectors of the Agricultural Department N.S.W. to be full of the shining wireworm-like larvae of these beetles. It is a common beetle in stables and produce stores.
Family 39 — Cistelidae
These are delicate, elongate, long-legged beetles, with weak integument, and are closely allied to the Tenebrionidae, only differing from them in having comb-like or pectinate claws on the tarsi; and their larvae are like wireworms. The Genus Atractus comprises a number of slender beetles of bright metallic tints common upon the flowering shrubs in summer; Atractus viridis, ½ an inch in length, is bright metallic green, with the thorax and shoulders tinted with coppery red, the wing covers deeply marked with punctured striae. A. virescens is a smaller species with a more dull metallic coppery tint. The members of the Genus Allecula are larger beetles, with long slender legs and antennae, shining brown or black in colour, with finely striated elytra; the larvae are slender, dark, shining brown wireworms living in decaying wood. Allecula subsulcata is slightly over ½ an inch in length, of a uniform black colour, with the last three joints of the antennae and the last two of the tarsi pale ferruginous. The larvae breed in the rotten stems of dead grass trees, and the beetles are generally found hiding among the foliage.
Family 40 — Lagriidae
This is another small group containing few species, but Lagria grandis is one of our very common beetles, and can be collected on low scrub anywhere about Sydney. The larvae are to be found under logs or among damp leaves on the ground, and are thickset, black, shining creatures. covered with short reddish hair on the upper surface; short antennae standing out in front; and the tip of the abdomen is produced into a pair of pointed spines. The beetle is light reddish brown, closely covered with fine confluent punctures and short scattered brown hairs. It is slightly over ½ an inch in length, with a small head, slender, narrow thorax, and with the front of the wing covers forming a broad shoulder in front.
Family 41 — Anthicidae
These are small ant-like beetles, with the head having a regular neck and the thorax narrow and elongate; most of them are found among rubbish upon the ground, or along the edges of creeks and watercourses. It is chiefly owing to the researches of King, who collected and described a great number of the species found about Sydney (Trans. Ent. Soc. N.S.W. 1869), that we know much about this family.
Family 42 — Pyrochroidae
This is a small group containing some beetles with the head attached to the thorax by a neck, and with the wing covers much broader than the thorax: Lemodes coccinea is a pretty little bright red beetle with black legs and antennae, the latter tipped with white; it measures slightly over ¼ of an inch in length; is common under logs in the Illawarra district. Another species, L. splendens, has recently been described by Lea (Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1906) from specimens obtained by me at Noundoc, N.S. Wales.
Family 43. Pintails — Mordellidae
This group, in which the Rhipidophoridae are now included, are very distinctive beetles; they have the head tucked down in front; the thorax large, broad, and rounded at the base, with the hind margins angular and fitting closely into the wing covers, which taper down to the apex; the end of the abdomen forms a stout spine-shaped tip extending beyond the wings.
They are very active little beetles; several species are very numerous and swarm over the flowers of the low scrub. Mordella leucosticta, ½ an inch in length, is black; the whole of the upper surface is thickly spotted and marked with dull white, and the legs and under surface are also mottled. M. limbata is a much smaller black beetle ⅙ of an inch in length, and has a pale silvery sheen: Tomoxia flavicans, from the northern rivers, is a shorter broader insect. Pelectomoides conicollis is 1¼ inches in length; is of a uniform dull brown colour, with pectinate antennae; the head is small, turned down, and the thorax is broad and rounded. This fine beetle is found about Sydney. Lea has described and listed the members of this family (Trans. Ent. Soc. London 1902).
Family 44. Oil and Blister Beetles — Cantharidae
The true Blister Beetle is a slender insect with soft integument, and a small head produced into a neck behind; the thorax is small in proportion to the slender rounded abdomen and wing covers. A number of species have been described from this country by different writers, among whom Fairmaire has been chief (Stett. Ent. Zeit. 1880). Most of them belong to the Genus Zonitis, of which about 40 species have been described. Zonitis bipartita, under ½ an inch in length, has the head, thorax, base of the wing covers, and under surface of abdomen orange yellow, with the abdomen and rest of the elytra dark shining blue: Z. brevicornis is a very similar insect, but has the whole of the wing covers deep metallic blue.
The true Oil Beetles are more rare; unable to fly, they are found crawling about on the ground with the body distended and the wing covers overlapping each other at the base. Nothing is recorded about the larvae of our species of this family, but in other countries they are known to feed upon the eggs of locusts; others attach themselves to bees, and are thus carried into their nests, where they devour the eggs and afterwards the honey.
The Oedemeridae are somewhat similar looking insects to the Blister Beetle; Ananca puncta is found in the northern parts of N.S. Wales; it is a very slender long-legged beetle over ½ an inch in length, of a general dull yellow colour, with the head, thorax, and legs mottled with dull blue, and the whole of the elongated wing covers dull blue except a dorsal stripe of the prevailing yellow which widens out towards the apex.
Family 45. Woodborers — Scolytidae
This is a group the members of which are allied to the Weevils, but differ in having a short broad snout with clubbed antennae, and the tibiae toothed on the outer edge. Only a few species have been described from this country, but several of them are well-known pests, and like the smaller species of the Auger Beetles are usually attracted to dying trees. In the Genus Hylesinus we have one, H. porcatus, which attacks the terminal buds of both the wild and cultivated figs. It is a short thickset black beetle, about 2 lines in length, with the head turned down to the fore-legs, and the clubbed antennae 5 jointed; the head and thorax are rugose, and the wing covers finely striated; the whole insect is lightly clothed with fine hairs. The Ambrosia Beetle, Xyleborus solidus, is a common beetle in the bush, and has lately turned its attention to fruit trees; boring into the branch and then gnawing a chamber right round under the bark, she deposits her eggs at the end of the burrow, at the same time killing the branch and causing it to snap off. This beetle is about ⅛ of an inch in length, of a uniform black colour, with the legs and antennae reddish brown. It is stout and cylindrical in form; the head is turned down in front and hidden from above; the rounded thorax is nearly as large as the body, covered with short rasp-like points in front; the wing covers are flattened and squared off at the tips.
Family 46. Slender Weevils — Brenthidae
These are remarkable looking beetles, very long and slender in form, with the snout never turned down but standing out straight in front of the head; the antennae not elbowed, but composed of a number of bead-like joints attached near the tip on either side; and the jaws situated at the extremity of the snout. In many of the larger forms the males are much bigger than the females, and have the snout much longer; they are chiefly found in the tropical scrubs, two small species however coming from the south. Trachelizus howetti, a shining reddish brown beetle about ¼ of an inch in length, has the antennae thickened to the tips; and Cordus hospes, a larger beetle of a somewhat darker colour, is found under dead bark on the tree trunks, and also sometimes in ants’ nests. Ectocemus pterygorrhinus comes from North Queensland, and is common on the low scrub about Cairns where timber has been felled; it is somewhat short and thickset; the male is about 1¼ inches in length, with the tip of the rostrum produced into an angulate process, and very long cylindrical antennae. The general colour is dark reddish brown, with the wing covers ornamented with four parallel rows of shining dull yellow bars. Ithystenus hollandiae, also from Cairns, is found in similar situations; it is very long and slender, 1½ inches long, blackish brown, with two parallel light reddish brown lines down the centre of the wing covers, and the extremities produced into a tooth at either side. Homocerus fossulatus, found under rotten bark, is of a general dull brown colour; is thickened and flattened, with the wing covers much roughened. The male measures about 1¾ inches in length, but the female is much smaller. Mesetia amoena is a very pretty, slender, bright reddish yellow beetle, with the head, legs, and sides of the thorax black, and a dark medium stripe down the thorax and elytron. It is about 1 inch in length, and is common in the scrubs about the Richmond River N.S.W.
Family 47. Carnivorous Weevils — Anthribidae
These beetles are allied to, but very distinct from, the true weevils, and are usually found on the trunks of dead trees, where they hunt for and devour the small wood-boring beetles that are attracted to the dead twigs, or which breed out of fungus. They have a short blunt snout, and many have long slender antennae which are not elbowed; they are most plentiful in the northern scrubs and forests.
Ecelonerus albopictus is typical of those with short antennae clubbed at the tips; it is a stout thickset dark brown beetle, thickly covered with pubescence, and the whole of the under surface, front of thorax and middle and tip of the body blotched with white pubescence. It measures over ½ an inch in length, and is found in the northern parts of N.S. Wales.
Ancylotropis waterhousei is a good example of the long-horned forms; it measures over ½ an inch in length, but looks shorter as its head and thorax are curved downwards. It is a very slender beetle of a uniform brown tint, but thickly clothed with buff and grey down; the thorax tapers to the front, and the head is elongated but swells out again in front, and is furnished with long slender antennae. Doticus pestilans is known as the “Dried Apple Beetle,” from the habit that the beetle has of laying its eggs in any dried immature apples that are left over the season upon the trees; in its native state the larvae breed in the large wattle galls. It measures only about ⅓ of an inch, and is a short, thickset beetle, with the head turned downward, furnished with slender clubbed antennae. The general colour is reddish brown; it has a raised ridge on either side of the wing covers; the fore-legs are curiously prolonged with large tarsi, and it has a peculiar jumping habit. Pascoe has described most of our beetles belonging to this group (Journal of Entomology 1860, and Annals and Magazine of Natural History 1859).
Family 48. Weevils — Curculionidae
The Weevils or Snout Beetles are one of the largest and best defined groups of the Coleoptera, and though they comprise a great number of very different looking beetles in shape, they all have the front of the head produced into a more or less elongated snout with the jaws placed at the tip, and with the distinctly elbowed antennae standing out on either side of the snout, forming a regular angle. Most of them are provided with well developed wings, the elytra being usually very solid; and the whole insect is encased in thick armour plate integument. The majority are slow, sluggish beetles, that trust as a rule more to their shape and protective colouration harmonising with their surroundings, than to their activity. They feed chiefly upon foliage and bark, and when at rest cling to the twigs or stalks of their food plants, falling at the least alarm to the ground, where they remain perfectly motionless, with their legs and antennae tightly closed until the danger has passed.
Those living in the dry western country are represented by curious wingless forms with very short stout snouts, and are usually found under logs and stones in open grass lands; while in the tropical scrubs they are chiefly arboreal, and frequently richly coloured. They are all vegetarian in their habits both in the larval and perfect states; some infest seeds, others destroy the buds, foliage or roots of plants and do a great deal of damage to farms and gardeners’ crops. About 1200 described species are listed in Masters’ Catalogue, and a great number of new species have been added during the last few years by Messrs. Blackburn and Lea in the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of N.S. Wales, and Transactions of the Royal Society of S. Australia. Pascoe, one of the most prolific writers on this family, described a great many between the years 1869–1883 (Journ. Linn. Soc. & Ann. Nat. Hist.). They have been divided into a number of sub-families, among which only the most important can be noticed here.
The remarkable Long-necked Weevil, Rhadinosomus lacordairei, measures under ½ an inch in length; is of a uniform dull reddish brown tint with a silvery white spot on either side of the rounded elytra, which are produced into a spine on each side. It breeds in the cavity in the large Brachyscelid galls, feeding on the woody tissue; Lea says that in Tasmania it is a pest to strawberry growers.
The members of the Genus Myllocerus are dainty little oval weevils found resting upon grass stalks or among the foliage of small shrubs peculiar to North Queensland and North West Australia. Myllocerus carinatus is about ⅓ of an inch in length, and is finely striated and densely clothed with metallic green scales. Catasarcus spinipennis is another West Australian insect of a brownish buff tint, with the abdomen broadly rounded; and the hind portions of the elytra covered with sharp spines. About 40 species of this genus are described, all of which with one exception are confined to West Australia. Cherrus ebeninus is one of the large stout black weevils common in the bush around Sydney, where it is usually found clinging to the twigs of the blood-wood, Eucalyptus corymbosa. It is black, with broad rugose thorax and ribbed wing covers.
The Genus Leptops contains a large number of very characteristic beetles feeding upon the foliage of wattles and other scrub trees. They are usually grey, buff, or dark brown insects with thickened snouts and broad bodies. The Apple-root Borer, Leptops hopei, is sometimes a pest to the orchardist, damaging the roots of his apple trees; the beetle emerging from the soil crawls up the tree trunk, and laying her eggs upon the leaf, turns the edges over and gums them together with a sticky secretion; the young grubs hatch and crawl down to the roots. L. tribulus, often called by the Sydney boys the “Wattle Pig,” feeds upon the foliage of the black wattle; it is a much larger species, about 1 inch in length; dark brown to black in colour; the broad rounded body covered with short blunt spines, thickest towards the apex. The Grey-banded Leaf Weevil, Ethemaia sellata, described from S. Australia, has a wide range over the interior. The larvae are pale green legless creatures about ⅓ of an inch in length, lightly clothed with short hairs; they remain buried in the soil, coming out at night to feed upon plants, but if disturbed by a light they will drop to the ground and bury themselves very quickly. The beetle is ⅓ of an inch in length, dark brown, shaded with grey, which forms an irregular pattern on the thorax, legs, and elytra; rugose, deeply pitted; and the whole surface is clothed with white and brown scales.
The Amycterinae are a large group of weevils with such short thick snouts that they are quite unlike the typical forms generally found in open forest country among grass or hiding under logs or stones; they are wingless, the elytra soldered together forming a very thick solid integument. Macleay described a great number (Trans. Ent. Soc. N.S.W. 1865). Psalidura elongata, common in the interior, measures slightly over 1 inch in length; is of a uniform black colour with a reddish brown tint; the short head and flattened thorax are finely granulated, with the elytron closely ribbed and punctured. Talaurinus tuberculatus, about ⅔ of an inch in length, is black, very coarsely granulated on the thorax, with the whole of the flattened elytron thickly covered with blunt tubercules. Nearly 90 species or this genus have been described, chiefly by Macleay, ranging all over Australia. Amycterus draco is one of the most remarkable armour plated species in the interior; it is black, with a small deeply ribbed head and angulated thorax; and the broad, somewhat elongated elytron is turned down at the extremity and covered with rows of raised bosses. Acantholophus echinatus, as the generic name implies, represents a group containing a number of species covered with spines that extend even over the upper surface of the head and thorax. The Genus Cubicorrhynchus contains the smaller ground beetles, almost cylindrical, with short rounded head and thorax: they dwell under stones, and when exposed lie quite motionless as if dead, their dull brown tints matching the ground. C. morosus, about ⅓ of an inch in length, is of the usual form and colour, with a very wide range, and often very numerous in grass lands.
The Gonipterinae comprise a number of diverse forms found upon foliage clinging to the twigs. The Genus Oxyops contains a number of stout moderate-sized beetles which are remarkable for the curious habits of their legless slug-like larvae, which, covering themselves with a slimy secretion, crawl about over the surface of the eucalyptus leaves, feeding upon the epidermis and covering their backs with their excrement; when full grown they pupate on the ground among the rubbish beneath their food plant. Oxyops concreta has a narrow short head with the thorax broadest behind; the elytra broadly swollen, rounded, deeply striated, and clothed with fine scales. Bryachus squamicollis has a wide range over Australia, and is usually found clinging to the twigs of stunted gum trees; it measures about ½ an inch in length; is of a uniform dark chocolate brown, but thickly mottled all over with fine grey and black scales. This beetle forms rounded cells of a brown gummy substance (very much like large Lecanium scales) which are attached to the twigs, in each of which she places three eggs; from these emerge pale yellow oval larvae; when full grown the larva is an oval smooth rounded grub of a purplish tint, legless, flattened on the ventral surface, and with the head hidden from above, like a “pear-slug” larva; when adult it falls or crawls to the ground, and pupates among the rubbish. Mr. Gurney first discovered the curious egg-capsules on trees in the Bogan River district N.S.W. Gonipterus gibberus is a small reddish-brown beetle with a white blotch on either side of the elytra; it has an elongated head and thorax, and is usually found clinging tightly to the tip of a eucalyptus twig. Aterpus cultratus, typical of the next group, measures ⅓ of an inch in length; the dorsal surface is flattened; is of a general dull brown tint, with the head, front of the thorax and tip of the abdomen buff. Usually found under dead bark on tree trunks, its larva forms a loose cocoon of bits of bark on the stems of Melaleuca bushes. Lixus mastersi, the weed weevil, is very common in neglected gardens, as its larvae feed in the roots of Amaranthus and Chenopodium, causing them to swell out into cylindrical galls; the beetle is ⅓ of an inch in length, slender and cylindrical in form, of a light brown tint, but when freshly emerged is covered with a yellow mealy pubescence which soon rubs off.
The “Botany Bay Diamond Beetle,” as Donovan described it, Chrysolophus spectabilis, is one of our commonest and at the same time one of the most beautiful of our weevils. It has a very wide range all over Australia, and is found wherever the black wattle thrives, but also feeds upon many other species. It is very variable in size, measuring to 1 inch in length; is of a uniform black tint, but so thickly covered with patches of bright metallic green scales, that in freshly emerged specimens it seems more green than black. It deposits its eggs about the butt of the wattle tree buried in the bark; the stout fleshy grubs form irregular tunnels in the wood.
The Elephant Beetle, Orthorrhinus cylindrirostris, whose stout fleshy grubs do a good deal of damage to citrus trees, has a very wide range over Australia: it is a dark brown weevil, covered on the dorsal surface with fine buff and grey scales; the thorax is covered with irregular bosses which form ridges on the elytra. It measures about ½ an inch in length, and has a long slender snout turned down in front, and very long fore-legs terminating in large feathered tarsi; in its native state it feeds upon gum trees. O. klugi is a much smaller species that feeds and breeds in wattles, but is also known as an orchard pest, infesting the canes of vines, and also eating the leaf buds.
Eurhamphus fasciculatus is one of our largest and most remarkable looking weevils; it measures 2½ inches in length, and is of a general black tint, but the greater portion is finely clothed with grey and rusty red scales, which give it a uniform buff tint; it is further clothed with tufts of long soft reddish brown hairs forming a raised ridge down either side of the thorax, and are scattered in rows on the elytra intermixed with small tufts of long grey hairs, giving it a very remarkable spiny appearance. It is a rare insect as a rule, ranging from Pine Mountain, Queensland, to the Clarence River, N.S. Wales; but many years ago Masters when collecting in the north came upon a large dead pine tree in the scrub literally covered with hundreds of these great weevils boring into the dead timber with their long slender snouts, making a distinct scratching sound. It is therefore probable that they are confined to the strip of country where the Hoop or Maryborough Pine grows, and breed on it.
Tranes sparsus, ⅓ of an inch in length, is common among the coarse palm-like foliage of the Currawong; it is of a uniform reddish brown tint with a slender snout, rounded flattened thorax, and oval, flattened, finely striated elytra. A smaller black species, T. xanthorrhoeae, is found in the foliage of the grass trees. The Genus Belus contains a number of very slender weevils with the snout standing out in front of the head, long antennae, thickened thighs, and the slender elytra coming to a point at the apex. They feed upon wattles, and are very active, flying about in the heat of the day. Belus semipunctatus is about ¾ of an inch in length; of a uniform dark reddish brown tint, with a broad white stripe down each side of the thorax and down the centre of the back, with small spots on each side. B. bidentatus is a stouter thickset beetle; and is of a darker brown colour, with a rounded buff spot on either side of the wing covers. B. plagiatus is a smaller almost black species, richly variegated with reddish yellow spots and blotches; it comes from the more tropical scrubs of N.S. Wales and Southern Queensland. Rhinotia hoemoptera, a very handsome slender cylindrical weevil, is about ¾ of an inch in length, with the snout furnished with thickened antennae turned down below the head; it is rich black with bright brick red wing covers which have a fine dorsal black stripe down the centre. The curious large-headed larvae feed in the stems of the Sweet-scented Wattle, Acacia suaveolens. Eurhynchus acanthopterus is the type of another group, which has a shorter snout, and the head broad and rounded, fitting closely into the somewhat attenuated thorax; the body is broadly oval, and the wing covers furnished with short conical spines in the centre of the back. It measures about ½ an inch, and is of a uniform reddish brown tint. The Ant Weevil, Myrmacicelus formicarius, usually found crawling about on the trunks of wattle trees, is a shining black weevil about ⅙ of an inch in length, and is as ant-looking as its names suggest. The Genus Balaninus represents the tiny little rounded weevils with very long slender snouts adapted for feeding upon seeds. B. amoenus is black spotted with white; is almost oval in form, and about ⅙ of an inch in length. It feeds upon the ripe fruit of the little yellow fig, Ficus rubiginosa.
The Genus Laemosaccus contains a number of short flattened weevils of a general black or dark brown colour ornamented with white or buff down; they are generally found feasting upon the bark of freshly fallen tree-trunks, particularly wattle and eucalypts, in which they also bore holes and deposit their eggs. Laemosaccus electilis measures ¼ of an inch in length; is black with white pubescence on the under surface, and white markings on the tips of the wing covers, which are finely striated. My specimens come from Condobolin, N.S. Wales.
The members of the Genus Haplonyx contain a number of curious, short, broadly rounded beetles generally found clinging to the twigs of eucalypts, but their larvae breed in the fleshy galls of the Brachyscelid coccids, where they destroy the gall makers and pupate in the cavity. Haplonyx centralis is a typical dark brown species with a large white circle occupying the centre of the back. Perissops ocellatus, about ½ an inch in length, comes from the Tweed River N.S. Wales and Southern Queensland: it is of a general light brown tint; is oval and rounded in form, with the wing covers marked with buff, so that when viewed from behind it resembles a pair of eyes and nose on a man’s face.
Axionicus insignis is always found upon the trunk of the Kurrajong tree hidden in the crevices of the bark, where in spite of its size (¾ of an inch in length) it is very difficult to detect, owing to the exact blending of its white grey and brown markings with the tints of the bark. It lays its eggs in the injured bark; the larvae are typical obese legless white grubs; they feed between the bark and the wood often in such numbers as to kill large branches. They pupate in regular oval cocoons formed of gnawed wood and bark. Tepperia sterculiae breeds in the seed pods of the Kurrajong, and is a smaller but somewhat similar tinted beetle clothed with brown and grey scales, the latter forming a well defined patch toward the apex of the wing covers. The two species of the Genus Enteles are smaller, smooth, shining, black beetles, with the head and legs curving underneath the body; they are both found in the semi-tropical scrubs of the north. Enteles vigorsi is marked with two white transverse lines crossing the elytra; while E. ocellatus has more parallel lines crossing the transverse ones, making an eye-like pattern upon the back. The Grass-tree Weevil, Trigonotarsus rugosus, is 1½ inches in length; is of a uniform black colour; and of the typical Calandra or palm weevil shape, with a slender curved snout, and small head sunk into the thorax, with the dorsal surface of the thorax and elytra flattened. The obese white larva feeds in the roots of the grass-trees. Allied to this are the two tiny cosmopolitan grain weevils, Calandra orizae and C. granaria, which are destructive pests to all kinds of grain and other food stuffs.
Family 49. Longicorns — Cerambycidae
The longicorn beetles from their number, variety, size, and the damage they do to timber and plants, are well known beetles, and have always been a favourite group with collectors. They are usually elongate in form, with powerful gnawing jaws, and long slender many-jointed antennae standing out in front of the head, the basal joint often half encircled by the large compound eye; the elytron is always divided down the centre, and the large hind wings well adapted for flight are folded beneath them; the legs are strongly developed, well adapted either for running about or clinging to their food plant.
They deposit their eggs in bark or timber; the larvae burrow into the tissue beneath, upon which they feed; they often remain, long cylindrical or flattened naked grubs, for several years before they pupate in the end of their last gallery.
They are divided into three large sub-families by modern entomologists; our species have been chiefly described by Newman in “The Entomologist” 1842; “Annals of Natural History” 1840; and a number of other Journals. Pascoe contributed a great many papers to over half a dozen of the leading entomological societies in England between 1857 and 1875. Hope, in the Proceedings of the Entomological Society of London 1841, and other Transactions, added largely to our list, while Messrs. Boisduval, Germer, White, Saunders, and others described odd specimens. In our own Journals, Macleay and Blackburn have also dealt with these beetles.
The Prioninae comprise a number of large broad thickset beetles with the front coxae large and transverse, and the prothorax having well developed side margins. The determination of several of our commonest species was a matter of some doubt, so I submitted most of our common forms to Professor Lamare of Brussels, who has identified them and enabled me to speak with some authority.
Sceleocantha glabricollis is one of the shortest thickset forms; about 1¼ inches in length; of the usual uniform reddish brown tint; the small shining thorax furnished with a fine spine on either side; and the broad rounded elytron finely granulated. It is found along the southern coast of N.S. Wales. The common large white grub which bores in the trunks of the honeysuckle (Banksia serrata) growing along the coast of the south-east of N.S. Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, is the larva of Paroplites australis described in 1842 by Erichson; in most of our Museum collections it is known as Macrotoma servilis. It is variable in size, measuring to 2 inches in length, and is of a dull dark brown tint, with a flattened rugose thorax with serrate edges. Eurynassa australis is a large somewhat slender species 2¼ inches in length; the broad flattened dull coloured thorax is marked in the centre with two shining triangular patches pointing toward the head; the reddish brown elytra are finely granulated. E. odewahni is a smaller species, with the thorax more constricted, shining, rugose, and serrate on the margins; it is found in the interior, and has an extended range westward from N.S. Wales to W. Australia. Agrianome spinicollis comes from the north-east of N.S. Wales; it is a broader more flattened form, about 2 inches in length; the thorax is rounded and serrate on the sides; and the general colour is light reddish brown. Iotherium metallicum hardly measures over ½ an inch; is of a rich metallic purple tint; the thorax is produced into a broad spine on the sides; and the wing covers are broadly round at the apex. The male is a much smaller coppery tinted beetle, and was described under the name of Phaolus macleayi; it is usually taken on grass stalks in open forest country.
The Cerambycinae comprise a much larger division of the longicorn beetles, differing from the last group in having the first coxae not greatly extended transversely; the thorax not margined, and the last joint of the maxillary palpus usually broad. Pachydissus sericus is a slender silvery dark brown beetle about 1¼ inches in length, with the tip of the wing covers spined and the basal joint of the antennae thickened. It is generally found clinging to the rough bark of tree trunks. They deposit their eggs in the bark of Acacia longifolia; the larvae bore all through the trunk and larger branches; they have a wide range over the southern half of Australia.
The Genus Phoracantha contains a number of typical dark yellow or mottled brown beetles which in the larval state feed between the bark and sapwood of different gum trees when the trees are dead or dying; several species are common in firewood blocks about Sydney. The beetles are remarkable for long antennae fringed on the inner edge with fine hairs and short spines at the joints, and a single large spine on the sides of the thorax. Phoracantha recurva has a very wide range from the North-west coast to Victoria; it measures under 1 inch in length; is of a general dull yellow tint, with the apical half of the wing covers crossed with a broad band of reddish brown. P. tricuspis is a much larger, darker reddish brown beetle with mottled wing covers that lives in the timber of the ironbark gums. P. semipunctata, smaller than the last, has a regular pattern of dark brown on its back; it is common about Sydney N.S.W., and has a wide range over Australia. Epithora dorsalis is remarkable for its very long fringed antennae, and is easily distinguished by its uniform reddish tint marked across the centre of the wing covers with a broad patch of dull yellow. It also has a wide range over the continent, and is often taken about Sydney in summer on flowering shrubs. Aphanasium australe is a slender, light reddish brown beetle, under ¾ of an inch in length, the larvae of which feed in the stems of the prickly Hakea bushes. Piesarthruis marginellus is a very distinctive dull reddish brown insect with the centre of the wing covers pale brown; the smaller more slender male is furnished with remarkable feathered antennae. The larva breeds and pupates in the centre of the branches of Acacia longifolia, and can be easily reared from infested wood, though it is very rarely found on the food plant, for as soon as it emerges it crawls up to the top of the tree and clings to the branchlets.
Strongylurus thoracicus is a handsome brown longicorn brightly marked with white on the sides of the thorax. Its larva is very destructive in gardens, cutting off large branches of white cedar and pittosporum bushes.
In the Genus Uracanthus the beetles are long and slender, with almost cylindrical bodies, and the thorax contracted slightly behind the head. Uracanthus triangularis in Victoria confines its attention almost exclusively to the branches of the black wattle; but in N.S. Wales I have bred it from a number of different shrubs. It measures about 1 inch in length; is of a general uniform reddish brown colour, but so thickly clothed with fawn-coloured pubescence that there is only an angular bare reddish patch on the sides of the wing covers. U. cryptophagus, the largest known species, is nearly twice the length, more cylindrical in form, and of a uniform buff tint. In its native state it fed in the northern scrubs of N.S. Wales upon the wild lemon, from which it migrated to the cultivated orange, and the larvae burrowing through the branches did a great deal of mischief to the trees. Syllitus grammicus is a slender reddish brown beetle with six parallel grey lines running down the elytra, and is under ½ an inch in length. Lygesis mendica breeds on the twigs of the black wattle in the neighbourhood of Sydney. It measures under ½ an inch in length; is of a uniform reddish brown colour, and has a slender head and long cylindrical thorax. The wing covers are rounded at the tips, and the whole insect is clothed with stout white hairs. Macrones rufus is a long, slender, bright reddish brown beetle about 1¼ inches in length; the thorax is roughened into rounded bosses; the body is narrow in the centre, but swells out into a rounded apex; the wing covers narrow, and not reaching to the tip of the abdomen give it a very wasp-like appearance. It is usually taken upon flowers in the summer months.
The Genus Hesthesis contains a number of brightly marked yellow and brown beetles that mimic flower-wasps both in colour and shape, and are found in similar situations upon flowering shrubs. The wing covers are shortened into rounded pads only covering the shoulders, while the wings are exposed. Hesthesis vigilans, under ¾ of an inch in length, is black, mottled on the thorax, and barred with two bands of bright yellow on the abdomen, and one on the front of the thorax. H. ferruginea, slightly larger, is bright yellow banded with black; and H. cingulata, about the same size, is black, blotched upon the thorax, and marked with three white bands on the abdomen. Distichocera macleayi has the smaller male black with feathered antennae, and deeply ribbed wing covers tapering to the apex. The female, nearly 1½ inches in length, and broader and thickset in proportion, has the dorsal surface clothed with rusty red pubescence. D. maculicollis is a much smaller species, hardly over ½ an inch in length in the male, which is of a dull black faintly marked with white; the larger female is rusty red except a parallel stripe of black down the centre of the thorax. This species breeds in the stems of Kunzea corifolia; commencing under the bark the larva gnaws irregular passages backwards and forwards, finally hollowing out several large parallel chambers toward the centre of the stem, in one of which it pupates. Among the most beautiful of our flower haunting longicorns are the members of the Genus Tragocerus, with stout angular thorax and broad deeply ribbed wing covers almost truncated at the extremities. T. lepidopterus is variable in size and colouration in the sexes, the smaller male being darker coloured than the large reddish brown female, which measures nearly 1¾ inches in length; both have the wing covers mottled with little patches of grey hairs. T. spencei is a smaller species without the white patches, but having dark wavy bands crossing the centre of the back.
The members of the Genus Clytus are active little ant-like beetles, common in the more tropical parts of Australia, running up and down on freshly fallen tree trunks in the bright sunlight, or hunting over flowering shrubs; some are richly marked with golden yellow or red on the rounded thorax. Clytus curtisi, measuring under 1 inch in length, is black spotted and mottled with white. One of our commonest and most widely distributed flower haunting longicorns is Aridaeus thoracicus, a reddish yellow beetle with short rounded thorax, and the wing covers crossed in the centre with two black V-shaped bands. It is very variable in size, the largest measuring nearly 1 inch in length. Purpuricenus quadrinotatus is a very handsome black and bright red beetle about ¾ of an inch in length, with a short broad almost globular thorax, and a short body round at the apex. It is common along the Flinders River N. Queensland upon low scrub, and I have taken them in all variations of red and black; usually the head and thorax are black, with the wing covers red blotched with black; a variety with the thorax red is described as a distinct species.
The Lamiinae comprise the third division which, usually stout and broad in proportion, are found chiefly upon branches or twigs feeding upon bark; and are frequently very numerous upon fallen timber in forest clearings. They differ from the former group in having the front coxae round and deeply embedded; the maxillary palpi pointed at the tips; and the fore tibiae with a more or less distinct groove on the inner side.
Microtragus mormon is typical of several closely allied genera of short, thickly coated longicorns, with the rounded slightly spined thorax and the tapering body ridged or coarsely punctured; they are found upon logs or tree trunks on the ground, and somewhat resemble the ground weevils. This species comes from Kalgoorlie, W. Australia, but has a wide range over the western country; it is of a dull reddish brown tint, and measures about 1 inch in length. Ceraegidion horrens, not uncommon in the Illawarra district N.S.W., is a smaller darker coloured beetle covered with stout spines upon the dorsal surface of the thorax and elytra. The Genus Monohammus contains a number of very fine brown or mottled beetles with long stout antennae; the small rounded thorax produced into a blunt spine on either side; and the broad wing covers arcuate at the tips and sometimes spined on the sides. M. holotephrus is of a uniform dull buff tint and measures over 1 inch in length; it comes from S. Australia and Queensland. M. ovinus is a much smaller species with the thorax spined on the summit and sides; it is of a pale brown tint finely mottled with grey. It has a wide range, being recorded from Kalgoorlie W.A., N.S. Wales, Queensland, and S. Australia.
The tropical Genus Batocera, containing many of the largest and most handsome of our longicorns, is well represented in our semi-tropical scrubs. Batocera frenchi has a very wide range from the Northern Coast of N.S. Wales to Cape York. The great white grubs burrow in the trunks of native figs and other forest trees, and the collectors in Cairns, N. Queensland, capture the beetles by cutting down fig trees and waiting for them at twilight when they come to feed upon the bark. This species measures over 2 inches in length, has a spined rugose thorax, broad wing covers, and immense stout spined curved antennae; its general colour is slate grey to dark brown, with the elytra marked with irregular oval white spots. B. sapho is a more reddish brown beetle, somewhat more slender, and with fewer spots on the wing covers: it is found in the forests of Cape York, N. Queensland. Rosenbergia megacephala is larger still, and is of a beautiful creamy white tint, with the basal portions of the elytra finely spotted with black; the thorax is deeply ridged and spined: it is found at Port Darwin N.A., and Cairns, Queensland. Horace Brown informs me that this large beetle frequents fig trees in the forests of N. Queensland, where they can often be detected by the number of small branches scattered beneath, which have been cut off by their powerful jaws. Thyada barbicornis is a very handsome greyish brown mottled beetle with an oval blackish spot on each side of the elytra, and the antennae are so thickly fringed with fine hairs that it forms a regular brush toward the extremities; it measures under ¾ of an inch in length, and is common on the foliage of native figs on the Tweed River N.S.W.
The Genus Hebecerus contains a number of moderate-sized, grey or brownish mottled beetles, many of which lay their eggs in the bark of the wattle trees; the larvae feed and pupate in the tips of the dead twigs. Hebecerus australis, a thickset greyish brown species about ½ an inch in length, has a wide distribution over Australia, and has been described under half a dozen synonyms: H. marginicollis is a smaller beetle, with the sides of the thorax marked with buff. H. crocogaster is smaller still, of a similar general tint, with the antennae barred with grey and brown.
The Genus Symphyletes contains a number of large and handsome longicorns that are found clinging to twigs and branchlets; many of them in the larval state burrow in the stems of wattles, gum trees and other smaller shrubs. Symphyletes neglectus is an elongate dull brown beetle about 1 inch in length; it girdles the branches of Acacia longifolia, laying its eggs under the bark of the dying portion in which the little grub feeds in the early part of its life. S. nigrovirens is a much smaller beetle, with the head, thorax, and base of the elytra clothed with dull yellow hairs; the rest of the wing covers is deep green striped with white on the sides. It feeds upon a number of small shrubs, but its commonest food plant is the stunted prickly wattle (Acacia juniperina). S. solandri, a larger beetle clothed with a dense coat of fine buff hairs, breeds in the flower stalk of the grass tree, often cutting it right through and causing the upper half, beneath which it pupates, to fall off. S. vestigialis measures ¾ of an inch; it is brown, richly mottled with buff and grey. It feeds upon wattles; it has a wide range over Southern Australia.
The Genus Penthea comprises a number of more thickset beetles with similar habits, and which have the upper surface of the thorax and wing covers granulated or ribbed and these are either covered with a dense pubescence or mottled all over in a very characteristic manner. Penthea vermicularia, one of the commonest and with a very wide range, is black with the antennae banded, and the elytra covered with irregular wavy white markings. It is very variable in size, 1¼ inches to under ¾ of an inch in length. P. saundersi, found in W. Australia, is much larger, of a more shining dark chocolate brown tint, and more deeply impressed with well defined spots, blotches and irregular buff coloured markings. P. sannio, smaller than the last and with a more constricted thorax, has the whole of the upper surface clothed with a creamy grey pubescence overlaid with deep orange red, and irregular dark lines crossing the wing covers; this beautiful beetle is a native of Queensland. Rhytiphora argus takes its name from the dark brown eye-like spots all over its back showing through the rich buff pubescence; it also ranges over a large part of Queensland. Depsages granulosa resembles a Penthea in its robust form; it measures over 1½ inches in length; is of a uniform dark dull brown tint, with the elytra covered with fine granules or bosses. It is common about Sydney, found clinging in summer time to the stems of gum saplings. Zygrita diva is a handsome little dark orange yellow coloured beetle irregularly marked and mottled with black. It is very common upon grass stalks in the open forest country of North Australia.
Family 50. Plant-eating Beetles — Chrysomelidae
These foliage-destroying beetles have a regular, thickened, more or less oval or rounded form, with the thorax sometimes forming a neck; but in other groups are rounded and fit closely into the head and abdomen. The head, buried up to the eyes in the front of the thorax, is furnished with short stout biting jaws, and slender filiform antennae composed of many short segments; the tarsi are generally four jointed. They are as a rule small insects, rarely measuring over ½ an inch in length; their prevailing colours are red, yellow, or brown, marked with black or bright metallic tints. They lay their eggs on the foliage or twigs of their food plants, upon which the larvae feed when they emerge, and when full grown crawl down and pupate in the soil beneath.
This is a very large family; about 18,000 species are described from all parts of the world, and most of the typical groups are represented in this country. We have had a number of workers on the Chrysomelids: Baly (Ann. Nat. History 1862), (Jour. Linn. Soc. 1864), and (Trans. Ent. Soc. of London 1877): Clark in the “Journal of Entomology” 1864: Marsham (Trans. Linn. Society 1808): Chapius has described a number (Soc. Entom. Belgium Vol. xvii.), and (Journal, Museum Godeffroy xiv.): while Lea (Trans. Ent. Soc. London 1904) has monographed the Cryptocephalides; and Blackburn revised the Genus Paropsis (Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1896 and 1901), adding many new species.
The Sagrides are very distinctive beetles, with the thorax elongated in front and broad behind; some of the more tropical forms are of rich metallic tints, with the thighs of the hind legs greatly enlarged; and our beautiful representative species, Sagra papuana, is known to collectors in the North Queensland scrubs as the “Kangaroo Beetle.” It measures 1 inch in length, and the swollen hind legs fringed with reddish hairs and a large angular spine are fully another inch in length. It is a uniform deep metallic blue. Carpophagus banksiae measures ½ an inch in length; is of a uniform dark reddish brown, with the elytra irregularly striped and banded with dark yellow; the thighs of the hind legs are thickened, and the under surface is clothed with fine grey hairs. It has a wide range, and is found about Sydney clinging to the low scrub. Mecynodera coxalgica is a larger, broader, dull reddish brown insect, clothed with a lighter tinted pubescence, and is found in similar localities.
The Cryptocephalides are a group of short, oval or truncate beetles, with long slender antennae: the sexes often differ in size and markings; they are usually found feeding upon the tender tips of the branches of wattle, young gum, and other low shrubs. Elaphodes tiqrinus is a small, oval, reddish brown beetle, thickly clothed with golden yellow pubescence forming a mottled pattern over the elytra; it feeds upon the foliage of the black wattle. The members of the Genus Ditropidus are small oval beetles, similar in shape and habits, black and shining; over 100 species have been described from Australia. The Genus Cadmus contains some very handsome ovate insects, with long slender antennae; they chiefly frequent the young eucalypts: the larvae have the curious habit of living in jug-shaped cocoons fitting closely to the body, with the horny flat forehead closing the opening at the apex; when moving along the fore-legs are extended like those of a bag-moth. Cadmus rubiginosus, our largest common species, is under ½ an inch in length; it is of a general reddish brown colour, with darker markings. C. litigiosus is a smaller yellow beetle; the head and thorax are black above, and the elytra yellow, finely punctured and spotted with black. The Genus Cryptocephalus comprises a number of similar shaped beetles with smaller wrinkled head and thorax, and the tip of the abdomen truncate. Cryptocephalus scabrosus is black, very rugose on the upper surface, with the tip of the elytra tinged with reddish brown: it measures about ¼ of an inch, and is common about Sydney. C. viridinitens is slightly larger, of a uniform dark metallic green on the upper surface.
The Eumolpides are represented by one of our most beautiful species, Spilopyra sumptuosa, common on low scrub on the northern rivers of N.S. Wales: it is about ½ an inch in length, and is of a fiery coppery red and deep metallic tint, giving out beautiful shades of colour in a bright light.
The Genus Edusa contains a number of bright metallic coloured beetles of oval form, which are chiefly found among the foliage of eucalypts. Edusa distincta is of the usual bright coppery red tint, with greenish head and thorax; it measures nearly ⅓ of an inch in length. Rhyparida didyma is a dull yellow beetle, with a narrow parallel stripe of black down each side of the elytra; it is of the usual elongate oval form with the head turned down in front. They are found clinging to grass stalks; this and several other species are common on the North West coast of Australia.
The Chrysomelides are one of the typical groups; many of them are rich in bright metallic tints; are either rounded or oval in form; and their larvae are active six legged grubs that crawl about the foliage. Aesernoides nigrofasciatus is a handsome, broad, convex, black beetle, with the elytra crossed with three broad irregular bands of dark orange yellow; it measures nearly ½ an inch in length, and is common on several shrubs in the Northern River scrubs. The Genus Phyllocharis contains a number of more elongated beetles with thicker antennae; they are chiefly found upon grass. Phyllocharis cyanicornis measures slightly over ⅓ of an inch in length; the general colour is dark orange, with the antennae and legs black; and the dorsal surface of the thorax and elytra are irregularly blotched with shining blue-black. It has a wide range over Australia and Tasmania. P. cyanipes, a larger species from N. Australia, has the head, thorax, blotch on each side of base, and tips of elytra light yellow, with the rest of the wing covers shining black. Lamprolina perplexa is a smaller, elongate, metallic, dull bronze coloured beetle, with yellow head and thorax; it is common upon the foliage of the native blackthorn, Busaria spiniferous.
The larvae of several species of the Genus Calomela feed upon the foliage of the black wattles: they are short, squat grubs, with black heads and small green oval bodies. Calomela paralis measures 2½ lines in length; its general colour is dark orange yellow, with a broad parallel band of rich metallic green occupying the centre of each wing cover and tapering down to the tips; the elytra are deeply and finely punctured. Twenty-five species are described from various parts of Australia, chiefly by Baly (Trans. Ent. Soc. 1856–1863: and Ann. and Mag. N.H. 1862).
The Genus Paropsis is the most extensive and characteristic of all our plant-eating beetles, and some of our common species are very plentiful about Sydney. Marsham wrote a monograph of the species (Trans. Linn. Soc. 1808), placing them in the Genus Notoclea; in Masters’ Catalogue 269 species are listed; since then, Blackburn has revised the Genus (Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1896–1901), and added a number of new species.
The beetles are found chiefly upon the foliage of young eucalypts, and lay their yellow spindle-shaped eggs in a ring round the small twigs: the young larvae when first hatched cluster together, but as they increase in size they scatter all over the foliage upon which they feed. They are very active, short, stout grubs, with three pairs of well developed legs; when full grown they crawl down and pupate in the soil. The beetles are very convex and broadly rounded; most of them are more or less yellow, brown, or black in tint; some are very richly and delicately shaded with metallic tints, which however unfortunately fade after death. Paropsis variolosa, one of our largest species, measures ¾ of an inch in length, and is nearly as broad in proportion; it is of a general yellowish brown tint mottled with lighter yellow and closely punctured; the under surface except the legs is black. P. alternata is a smaller, dark brown beetle, the elytra banded with parallel lines of black and reddish brown: P. immaculata is about the same size; dull reddish brown, with the outer half of the elytra darkest; it is usually found feeding upon the foliage of the black wattle. P. liturata is slightly smaller than the last, with the wing covers irregularly spotted with pale yellow. It is common on the eucalypts about Sydney, and has a wide range over the State. The small green larvae of P. pictipennis feed upon the foliage of Leptospermum; the beetle is a small form, dull yellow marked with bright spots, but fades into a dull brown when dead.
The Halticides are popularly known as “flea beetles,” as they have the thighs of the hind legs swollen out into rounded lumps which enable them to jump to a considerable distance: specimens are often found feeding upon sedges about watercourses. Nisotra submetallica is a tiny, shining green beetle, with a light reddish brown head and thorax; it is often a pest in the herb bed, where it feeds upon mint. Arsipoda macleayi is a much larger, deep metallic blue beetle with very large thighs; it has been found eating the surface of vine leaves in the Gosford district N.S.W., and covering them all over with brown blotches.
The Gallerucides comprise several very destructive garden pests, among which is the well known Pumpkin Beetle, Aulacophora olivieri, a reddish yellow and black beetle often called a “lady-bird,” and which in many parts of Australia swarms over the young melons and cucumbers and devours the flowers and foliage. Monolepta rosae is a delicate pale yellow beetle, with the front half of the elytra shaded with rose red; it has a wide range, and on the northern rivers congregates in great numbers at times, eating up the young foliage of the citrus trees. The Fig-leaf Beetle, Galleruca semipullata, lays its spindle-shaped eggs in patches on the leaves of both the wild and cultivated figs, upon the surface of which the dirty yellow coloured larvae feed, finally crawling down the trunks and pupating in the ground. The beetle measures about ⅓ of an inch in length; is of a dull ochreous yellow, with the outer margins of the broad elytra striped with dull bluish black. Hoplostinus viridipennis is a much smaller, dull brownish yellow beetle, with shorter, rounded, deep metallic green elytra. It feeds upon the foliage of the nettle trees growing in the scrubs of the Northern Rivers, N.S.W.
The Hispides are a very distinct group of the plant-eating beetles, whose larvae are sometimes very destructive; they bore into the foliage or stalks of plants, feeding in, and not upon the plant tissue. The beetles might be divided into two sections; those that are short and broad shouldered like Monochirus multispinosus, which measures ⅙ of an inch in length, is black in colour, with the whole of the dorsal surface covered with short fine spines, and is common upon grass blades on the South coast of N.S. Wales; and the elongate almost cylindrical forms found on sedges belonging to the Genus Euryspa. These beetles are remarkable for the situation of their antennae, which are very close together at the base, and stand straight out in front of the head. Brontispa froggatti, belonging to the latter section, is a very serious pest on the cocoa nut palms in New Britain and Solomon Islands.
The Cassidides are curious ladybird-like beetles of a general yellow or light brown colour spotted or marked with black, with the outer margins of the elytra spreading out into an encircling flange or rim. They are confined to the more tropical forests of Queensland, but one species, Aspidomorpha deusta, comes into the northern scrubs of N.S. Wales; it is of the usual shape and mottled tints, measuring about ¼ of an inch in length.
Family 51. Fungus Beetles — Erotylidae
The larvae of these beetles can be often found in numbers feeding in the different kinds of woody fungi that grow upon tree trunks, old fences, and fallen logs. If these infested fungi are collected and kept in a box the beetles can be very easily bred out. They can be readily recognised by their elongate, boat-shaped form, and clubbed antennae.
Episcaphula pictipennis, one of our commonest species, is black, but thickly mottled with deep orange red forming three interrupted bands across the elytra. It measures about ¼ of an inch. Thallis janthina is a smaller, shining, blue black beetle, slightly roughened on the elytra; it breeds in the large, spongy, white fungus growing on the tree trunks known as “punks.”
Family 52. Lady-bird Beetles — Coccinellidae
These well-known beetles differ from the last family (which many of them resemble in outward appearance) in having 3 jointed tarsi, and the short usually 11 jointed antennae (occasionally 8–10) being slightly clubbed at the tips. In their habits however they differ in being carnivorous both in the larval and adult state, with the exception of the members of the Genus Epilachna, which are phytophagus. They are all small rounded beetles; the short head fits close into the thorax, which in turn rests against the front of the elytra: most of them are yellow, spotted or marked with darker yellow, metallic blue or black, and are slightly pubescent. These insects are well known in our gardens to the children as “lady-birds,” and the quaint rhyme of “Fly away lady-bird” is said to have originated in the hop fields of Kent: after the hop picking, the dead plants, where the common English lady-bird was abundant feeding upon the hop aphis, were burnt off, and this was a warning by the children to them to fly away before the fires were started. They have been closely studied by economic entomologists because they are the natural enemies of so many aphis and scale insects.
Over 2,000 species have been described from all parts of the world, and in the latest list given by Lea (Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1901), 110 are recorded from Australia. Mulsant published his great work (Species Coleopteris Trimeres Securipalpes) in 1850: Crotch published his “Revision of the Coccinellidae” in 1874; in both of these will be found descriptions of Australian species. Blackburn (Trans. Royal Soc. S.A. 1892) and Lea previously quoted, added a number of new species to our fauna.
The Genus Epilachna contains all our plant-feeding lady-bird beetles, two of which are common. The 28-spot lady-bird, Epilachna 28-punctata, has a wide range extending from China and India to all parts of Australia; it measures about ⅓ of an inch in length, is of a dull yellowish brown tint marked with rounded black spots, and clothed with a fine pubescence. Crotch says: “This species varies almost to infinity, and gradually runs into the common 6-spotted type, so that I cannot give any structural differences.” Its curious gregarious larvae are dull yellow covered with black spined tubercles; about Sydney they are often found upon the foliage of the trumpet flower (Datura stramonium), but in the north of N.S. Wales often damage the foliage of potatoes. E. guttatopustulata ranges from Tasmania to North Australia, and is a common insect in the Richmond River scrubs, N.S.W.; it is a large beetle, easily recognised by the large, rounded, yellowish red blotch on the sides of the elytra.
The typical Coccinella repanda measures ⅕ of an inch in length; it is a little, rounded, bright yellow beetle, with the head and thorax blackish, the elytra striped down the centre, and marked on either side with two irregular black V-shaped blotches. It has a wide range over Australia, and feeds upon all kinds of aphids, sometimes appearing in great numbers all over the country. Leis conformis is a larger species, of a uniform bright orange yellow, thickly spotted with black. It is a common garden insect, where the clusters of its slender yellow eggs may be often noticed attached to the bark of aphis infested trees; and its elongated, smoky tinted larvae, blotched on the sides with orange, may be often watched feeding upon rose or peach aphis. Thea galbula is a dainty little lady-bird, with the dorsal surface bright pale yellow, marked with black in the centre of the thorax; the dorsal stripe down the centre of the elytra connects two pairs of black blotches crossing the centre and base. It measures about ⅙ of an inch in length, and is at times common in our gardens. Verania frenata is ⅙ of an inch; it is yellow, with the thorax black behind, and with three stripes of the same colour down the elytra. It has a wide range from Tasmania to New Caledonia and the Malayan Islands.
The Genus Orcus contains a number of metallic blue-black lady-birds which feed chiefly upon scale insects; their larvae are grey and black creatures with the dorsal surface covered with fine spines; several species are common on scale infested citrus trees. Orcus chalybeus, measuring about ⅛ of an inch in length, is of a uniform deep metallic steel blue. O. australasiae is a larger species with two rounded yellow spots on each side of the elytra. O. bilunulatus is a still larger insect, with only one yellow blotch on either side of the front of the thorax.
Novius cardinalis is a tiny red and black lady-bird, very variable in its black colouration; it was better known as Vedalia cardinalis, when it was collected in great numbers and forwarded to America to destroy the Fluted or Cottony-cushion Scale (Icerya purchasi), which had been introduced from this country into California and damaged the orange trees. It has since been introduced into other parts of the world, and is now cosmopolitan. The Genus Rhizobius contains a number of small black beetles finely punctured and clothed with pubescence, that gives them a rusty tint. Rhizobius ventralis is very common in the bush upon young eucalypts that are infested with Eriococcus coriaceous; it measures about ⅙ of an inch in length and is very pubescent. Cryptolæmus montrouzieri, a great foe to all kinds of mealy bugs, has been introduced into Hawaii with good results. The larvae are flattened brown insects that cover themselves with short white overlapping filaments, so that their identity is quite lost; they frequently swarm in thousands upon the trunks of scale infested Auracaria pines, pupating in such numbers that they form large white patches over the tree stems. The beetle is ¼ of an inch in length; is of a uniform black tint, with the head, thorax and tip of the elytra light yellow. The Genus Scymnus contains many of our smallest species: Scymnus vagans is a minute black beetle only ¹⁄₂₄ of an inch in length, which can be found on mite infested foliage. S. notiscens, more than twice the size, is common both on wattles and orange trees; it can be easily identified by the distinct reddish blotch in the centre of each wing cover.