Black-headed Soldier Beetle
S1, Female, profile
Black-headed Soldier Beetle
S1, Female, Head
| Black-headed Soldier Beetle S1, Female, profile | | Black-headed Soldier Beetle S1, Female, Head | | ||
 | 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: | 🔍S2 & S3, Mating, profile🔎 | ||||
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. | |||||
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