Plague soldier beetle

Chauliognathus lugubris

The plague soldier beetle or green soldier beetle is a species of soldier beetle native to Australia. It has a flattened body to 15 millimetres long with a prominent yellow-orange stripe behind the black prothorax. The abdomen is yellow-orange but is mostly obscured by the metallic olive green elytra.
Plague Soldier beetle A beetle with a yellow/orange prothorax and dark green/black elytra. The bright colours are a warning to any predator..these beetles exude a white viscous fluid from their glands that is repellent. Here a single specimen, but sometimes I've seen them in massive mating swarms and that's quite a sight. 
15 mm length Australia,Cantharidae,Chauliognathus lugubris,Coleoptera,Geotagged,Macro,Plague Soldier beetle,Summer,arthropod,beetle,insect,invertebrate,new south wales

Behavior

The beetles often form large mating swarms.

References:

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Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionArthropoda
ClassInsecta
OrderColeoptera
FamilyCantharidae
GenusChauliognathus
SpeciesC. lugubris
Photographed in
Australia