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Checkered Beetle (or possibly False Blister Beetle) from Australia

Posted by bugman (online) December 27th, 2010 at 12:29 pm

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Checkered Beetles, False Blister Beetles

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australian sparkly bug
Location: Victoria, Australia
December 26, 2010 8:21 pm
hi, thanks for the great site. Here’s a bug from Victoria, Australia (outer northeastern suburbs of Melbourne). It’s the sparkliest bug I’ve ever seen but I have no idea what it is!
Signature: Ophelia

metallic beetle australia ophelia 300x212 Checkered Beetle (or possibly False Blister Beetle) from Australia

Checkered Beetle

Hi Ophelia,
Our initial search of the Insects of Brisbane website did not produce any potential identification, but we will continue to research this query.  Your beetle somewhat resembles the Checkered Beetles in the family Cleridae, so we are linking to the Superfamily Cleroidea on BugGuide.  This really is a pretty little beetle.  Perhaps one of our readers will be able to provide some assistance.

Update:
Mardikavana who frequently assists in the identification of Beetles, has provided a comment indicating that this is a False Blister Beetle in the family Oedemeridae.  BugGuide has information on the family.  The Brisbane Insect website indicates that the family are known as Pollen Feeding Beetles.  The Life Unseen website does not identify this species among the members of the family Oedemeridae that are represented on the site.

wow – thanks for the quick reply. I’d never seen anything quite so
sparkly in beetle form.  I’m in Victoria rather than brisbane, way
down south-east.
Best,
Ophelia

Update: January 5, 2010
A new comment just arrived that contradicts the False Blister Beetle identification and which agrees with our initial Checkered Beetle ID.  We found a link on Flickr (and a second on Flickr) that supports the Checkered Beetle ID as well as a different species from the genus on Oz Animals.

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Comments 4

  1. mardikavana wrote:

    This is not Cleridae. It it Oedemeridae. They tend to be green and are usually found on flowers. I hope that it helps.

    Posted 27 Dec 2010 at 1:21 pm
  2. bugman wrote:

    Thanks mardikavana. We have linked to the family, but the species identification is still eluding us.

    Posted 27 Dec 2010 at 1:57 pm
  3. cleridoz wrote:

    Hi. Your initial placement of this beetle in Cleridae was correct. It belongs to the genus Eleale. I am very familiar with these little metallic flower-visiting species through my studies of Australian clerids. Sorry, it’s not Oedermeridae. Cheers!

    Posted 05 Jan 2011 at 5:57 am
  4. bugman wrote:

    Thanks for the correction.

    Posted 05 Jan 2011 at 9:28 am

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