Monkey Beetle

Another one I cannot find in wiki. I am sure it is a monkey beetle though

comments (7)

Claire Hamilton

Lion

If it helps with identification, this little thing was about 10-15mm long and was burrowing into a sunflower.
It could be Eriesthis guttata but wiki does not like that either! Posted 11 years ago, modified 11 years ago
1. Ferdy Christant
  
  Lion
  
  The trouble with Wikipedia is that it only documents the common. For example, there are 30,000 known snout beetles known to science, and Wikipedia hasn't described more than a handful of them. As soon as you step outside of common species, Wikipedia is lacking. That's why I'm working on better ways to create species manually in JungleDragon. It shall be forthcoming. Posted 11 years ago
2. WildFlower
  
  Lion
  
  If this identification is correct, the stripes are different. It could be another Eriesthis species, but there aren't many photos of them.
  http://saphotographs.blogspot.com/2013/07/monkey-beetle-eriesthis-gutttata.html
  http://www.ispot.org.za/node/176748 Posted 11 years ago
3. 1. Claire Hamilton
    
    Lion
    
    I see what you mean about the stripes, unfortunately I can't remember where I got this identification from but I just found this...
    'South Africa is a centre of diversity for monkey beetles, with more than 65% of the world’s monkey beetle species and 40% of the genera concentrated here. Currently, over 1 040 described species and 51 genera of monkey beetle are known from South Africa. Remarkably, almost half of the world’s species are concentrated in the winter-rainfall region of South Africa, with the Fynbos and Succulent Karoo Biomes being hotspots of monkey beetle diversity, both in numbers of species and in the huge diversity of different shapes, sizes and colour forms. Monkey beetles pollinate many different plant species, especially daisy and bulb flowers. Clania glenlyonensis is a specialized monkey beetle that is endemic to the red dolerite soils of the Hantam National Botanical Garden in Namaqualand.'
    So I reckon it is not going to be easy getting a true identification! Thank you very much for your efforts though! Posted 11 years ago
  2. 1. WildFlower
      
      Lion
      
      There are a few of them here
      http://www.colinpatersonjones.co.za/gallery3/index.php/tag/546/Monkey+Beetles Posted 11 years ago

Jivko Nakev

Lion

Claire, I have found the following guide:
http://www.beetlesofafrica.com/index-old.asp
You may contact them and send your photo for ID Posted 11 years ago
1. Claire Hamilton
  
  Lion
  
  Thank you Jivko...appreciated! Posted 11 years ago

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By Claire Hamilton

Uploaded Jan 14, 2014. Captured Jan 14, 2014 17:22 in N2, South Africa.

Explore South Africa 1,841 673 0

Canon EOS 70D
f/13.0
1/512s
ISO400
100mm

Captured in the summer. More summer photos.

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