Flower Chafer
S3, Male, ventral
Ellura
Sandy Dung Beetle
Dorsal, ~9mm
 
                      
Flower Chafer (Diaphonia dispar)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Beetles (Coleoptera)
Family: Scarab Beetle (Scarabaeidae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Flower Chafer (Diaphonia dispar)
This Photo:     🔍S4, Female, ventral🔎
Other names: Flower Beetle or Scarab Beetle

Thank you Mark Hura for identifying this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere
~23mm long.
The female is basically a black beetle, with 2 "flame" stripes above, 2 orange spots on the rear, along with 4 paler orange/yellow spots on each side of the abdomen.
The most interesting visual aspect of this beetle is it's sculptured elytra. The legs are wide and also have abnormally large appendages.
Males look a bit like cowboy beetles and are pale brown, with a black 'V' on the pronotum & black edging to the inside edge of the pronotum.
These are quite rare and important scientifically, so have included detailed photo's of all our specimens to show any differences between them.

Copyright © 2022-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 11-Mar-2022
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.