Jewel beetle Nascio vetusta

Another curious garden wall sighting - a jewel beetle in family Buprestidae. These beetles have been observed feeding on plants within Myrtaceae and Xanthorrhoeaceae.

15 mm length

comments (4)

Pudding4brains

Lion

Hi Ruth - nice observation! Supposedly the beetles are rarely seen, even where "infected" trees are present. Nevertheless Martin had beat you to it, only that the species had been created before with a misspelling in the name ;o)
Cheers, Arp Posted 4 years ago
1. Ruth Spigelman
  
  Lion
  
  Thanks for this input. I was concerned that mine looked quite markedly different from on line images of such, like Martin's - but reassured when ID was backed up in Australian Entomology group on FB by several members. Perhaps mine is a juvenile. Posted 4 years ago

Mark Ridgway

Lion

Interesting find Ruth. Posted 4 years ago

Flown Kimmerling

Lion

AWESOME! I love buprestids so much! Posted 4 years ago

The Nascio vetusta

Nascio vetusta (Boisduval, 1835) is a Buprestid beetle (Buprestidae) in the endemic Australian genus Nascio. The larvae are known to feed oligophagous on Eucalyptus and Metrosideros (Myrtaceae), with Eucalyptus being the original host and the introduced Metrosideros must represent a recent host selection, mostly in the urban environment.

Info 2 0

Similar species: Beetles

Species identified by Pudding4brains