Black-headed Soldier Beetle
S2 & S3, Mating, profile
Ellura
Black-headed Soldier Beetle
S3, Female, ventral
 
                      
Black-headed Soldier Beetle (Chauliognathus sp ES01)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Beetles (Coleoptera)
Family: Soldier Beetle (Cantharidae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Black-headed Soldier Beetle (Chauliognathus sp ES01)
This Photo:     🔍S1, Female, Head🔎

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere
Not only do these have a black head, the elytra is also black. The other soldier beetles here have green elytra.
We had always thought S1 was a male due to the spot on it's pronotum; differentiating the genders. But we not think, due to body shape, it's a female. As such, this highlights the variability of the pronotum pattern with this genus.

Now you may wander why so many photo's are taken of insects copulating.
It's because it allows us to see differences in gender (both size and markings)
Here we are able to deduce the female is larger.

Notice all of these Chauliognathus sp have hairs growing out of the elytra.

Copyright © 2014-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 19-Mar-2014
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.