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Beetles
Fireflies
(Lampyridae)
Fireflies
are beetles. In Australia most are found in the wetter areas, favouring
rainforests
and mangroves. The blinking light, which comes from segments on the
underside of the tip of the
abdomen (far right), is created by a chemical process. This is triggered
when the beetle opens small apertures to allow air in. The chemicals react
to the presence of oxygen with a blaze of
light, but are soon exhausted.
However they quickly recharge in time
for the next burst -- hence the flashing effect. Males are the main
flashers,
cruising at night in search of a mate. With enormous
eyes and a visor to keep his attention focused, he is on the
lookout for an answering blink which indicates a suitably
impressed, but flightless, female. Firefly
larvae, and pupae, are also slightly luminous. The larvae
feed on snails, which they are able to paralyse, but it is thought
that the adults (like some other beetles) do not feed at all. Their
short lives add a certain urgency to their flashy courting
behaviour. |
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(Script
Source: Environmental Protection Agency
illustrations: Insects of Australia courtesy CSIRO)
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to Rainforest Insects Page |
Ladybirds
(Coccinellidae)
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A
favourite among beetles, the standard
ladybird
is welcomed by gardeners for its, and its larva's, habit of feeding on
garden pests such as aphids. mealybugs, mites and scale insects. In
fact. a number of Australian species have been used to combat
agricultural pests overseas. However, some species. such as the
twenty-eight spotted ladybird, feed on foliage of tomato. pumpkin and
potato plants. The bright colours of many of these beetles warn
potential predators that they are poisonous toxins are exuded from their
knees. There are over 300 species of ladybirds in Australia, most of
them small and easily overlooked. |
Ladybird larvae are
just as useful as
adults
at controlling pests. |
(Script Source: Environmental
Protection Agency. illustrations: Insects of Australia courtesy
CSIRO)
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Passalid
beetles
(Passalidae)
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Passalid
beetles are found particularly in wet tropical and subtropical
forests where they feed on decaying wood. Many are large and shiny
black with 'waists' between front and back sections. They are of
particular
interest because they live in semi-social family groups, with parents
caring
for
and feeding their young. The young larva lets its parents know where
it
is by rubbing hind and mid legs together to produce a sound. The adults
(which rub hind wings against abdomens in reply) then chew up wood for
the
larva to feed on. Their presence in a log can often be detected by the
presence
of large piles of sawdust collecting beneath the log. |
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(Script Source: Environmental
Protection Agency. illustrations: Insects of Australia courtesy
CSIRO)
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to Rainforest Insects Page |
Christmas
beetles
| Christmas beetles
buzz loudly in flight. There are many types, a fact which sometimes leads
to arguments between people with a fixed idea of their appearance. As
larvae, these beetles feed on grass roots but as adults they can seriously
defoliate
trees, particularly eucalypts, during summer. The aptly-named golden
scarab, found in the Wet Tropics is a
Christmas beetle. |
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(Script Source: Environmental
Protection Agency.)
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to Rainforest Insects Page |
Weevils
(Cuculionidae)
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Weevils are distinguished by
the elongated snout (rostrum) which they use to drill into leaves and bark
to feed and, in the case of females, to create egg chambers. However, bark
beetles and ambrosia beetles, whose rostra are inconspicuous, are also
included in this group.
The Ithystenus hoolandiae lives on the
outside of logs and has an interesting sex life. the males, which have
unusually long legs, come in two sizes - large and small. The large male
stands over his chosen female, but the small male sometimes sneaks
between his legs and mates with the female instead - a strategy not unlike
that of parrotfish! |
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(Script Source: Environmental
Protection Agency. illustrations: Australian Weevils courtesy
CSIRO)
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to Rainforest Insects Page |
Ambrosia
Beetles
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Ambrosia beetles have earned
their name from the yeast-like ambrosia fungi which they cultivate for
food. known also as pinhole borers, they make tiny tunnels into the
heartwood of dead or dying trees, lining the tunnel walls with the fungi.
They even carry it with them when they move from tree to tree. Some
abrosia beetles also build colonies with societies not unlike those of
termites or bees. The burrows of ambrosia beetles are not a perfect
refuge, since certain predatory beetles follow them into their tunnels for
an easy meal. |
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(Script Source: Environmental
Protection Agency. illustrations: Insects of Australia courtesy
CSIRO)
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to Rainforest Insects Page |
Longicorn
Beetles (Cerambycidae)
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Also known as longhorn beetles,
members of this large family have long antennae which measure from
three-quarters to several times the length of their bodies. This increases
their sensory powers and may also help them to survive attacks - a small
bit of antenna lost to an ant doesn't matter so much if they are extra
long. Larvae generally feed on dead and dying wood; some large ones are a
favourite traditional aboriginal food. This group contains Australia's
largest beetle, the 80mm batrocera wallacei, from the Cape York
Peninsula, and the slightly smaller and brightly coloured B. boisduvali,
common in the Wet Tropics. |
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(Script Source: Environmental
Protection Agency. illustrations: Insects of Australia courtesy
CSIRO)
Australian
Longicorn Beetles (Cerambycidae) List
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Ground
Beetles (Carabidae)
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These beetles number about 2500
different species in Australia, with 500 different species being found
under the bark of eucalypts alone. Most are predators, both as larvae and
as adults, the latter equipped with long legs for fast movement. Although
many of the species which live on the ground are flightless, they are
swift, effective hunters, which can often be seen be day. One particularly
ferocious group of species has earned the name 'tiger beetles'. |
| The ground beetle, Mecynognathus
dameli (above), is a 75mm flightless scavenger and predator from the
tip of Cape York Peninsula. It is feared that cane toads, when they
arrive, may threaten its existence, as they seem to be doing for many
ground beetles in the Wet Tropics. |
(Script Source: Environmental
Protection Agency. illustrations: Insects of Australia courtesy CSIRO)
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to Rainforest Insects Page |
Aquatic
Beetles
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Beetles inhabit every part of
the world except the sea. Two large families live in freshwater, where
they are able to dive be storing air under their elytra or abdomen. most
have streamlined bodies and modifies legs which act like oars. Sometimes
they crash-land on the shiny paintwork of cars in what is assumed to be an
unfortunate case of mistaken identity. |
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(Script Source: Environmental
Protection Agency. illustrations: Insects of Australia courtesy
CSIRO)
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to Rainforest Insects Page |
Rove
Beetles (Staphilinidae)
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Many rove beetles are long,
with small elytra, and flexible bodies. Lacking the solid, hardened
appearance of the standard beetle, they are easily mistaken for other
sorts of insects, such as earwigs. Most are black or brown, although some
Wet Tropics species are purple and green. It has been noticed that some
rove beetles fold their wings as many as 12 times to fit them under their
small elytra. |
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(Script Source: Environmental
Protection Agency. illustrations: Insects of Australia courtesy
CSIRO)
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to Rainforest Insects Page |
Jewel Beetles
(Buprestidae)
| This large family includes some of our
most attractively-coloured beetles, many with a metallic sheen. Adults
tend to feed on nectar, with some preferring leaves, while most larvae
feed under bark or bore into wood, stems or roots. Larvae which feed on
hoop pine have been known to emerge as adults from furniture up to four
years after it was made from the timber. Smaller species are responsible
for the galls formed on many trees while others are leaf miners,
tunnelling around in the leaf tissue. Forest-dwelling tribes in many parts
of the world use the colourful elytra in ear-rings or necklaces. |
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(Script Source: Environmental
Protection Agency.)
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