This is a Christmas beetle, not a leaf beetle (much smaller critters), but it's not possible to ID it further than Anoplognathus sp, without getting a look at its backside, as to colour and hairiness!
Hi Kim, so what are you basing that ID on? Pale colour of wing cases? (I used to sort Xmas beetles from the light trap on Brown Mtn as a uni holiday job, way back when, but I've forgotten most of the ID features now).
Hi Jackie, I went for A. porosus based on the pale wing cases with a longitudinal pattern, the colour of the pronotum, and the slight bulge in the sides of the elytra around the mid-point. But I'd like to check the ID against reliably identified specimens, as A. porosus is quite variable and there may be other spp. on the coast that I'm not familiar with.
Yep, I've never investigated what's around by way of Anoplognathus down here. Our only photos so far are viriditarsus and hirsutus, but I seem to recall there being at least 8 to choose from in Canberra. There's plenty of evidence of their activity down here this year, but I don't seem to run across many actual beetles. I'll start paying a bit more attention.
It's very broad, from that and the colouration I would suspect A. olivieri. That species still seems quite common, including around urban areas, along the Australian East Coast in our Christmas Beetle project. Best would be to have a view of the pygidium, which is drawn out and pointy with an apical tuft of setae.
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