Green Metallic Clerid Beetle
Profile
Bulbous Antennae Clerid
Dorsal
| Green Metallic Clerid Beetle Profile | | Bulbous Antennae Clerid Dorsal | | ||
 | Class: | Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta) | |||
| Order: | Beetles (Coleoptera) | ||||
| Family: | Clerid Beetle (Cleridae) iNaturalist Observation | ||||
| Species: | Green Metallic Clerid Beetle (Phlogistus sp) | ||||
| This Photo: | Head | ||||
Thank you Justin S. Bartlett for confirming the id of this species for us General Species Information: Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere ~6mm long. Metallic Green covering, including legs. Very hairy, typical of clerid beetles. Even has long hair extruding from the eyes. Found in Melaleuca lanceolata flower during the day. We thought this was Phlogistus schulzi, but Justin said "Your species appears to belong to a complex of Phlogistus species that all have bicoloured protibiae and a weak pronotal sulcus (as in the type species, Phlogistus instabilis). Phlogistus schulzi does not belong that that complex . . . . it has a more rotund and smooth pronotum and distinctive shallow but uniform elytral punctation. Unfortunately, you just won't get a species ID on this, partly as there are so many similar-looking metallic green species in this genus, and partly as it is covered in powdery frass of some kind." | |||||
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