#2106 - Copidita sp.
One of the False Blister Beetles. Probably C. sloanei. The aposematic colouration is honest despite the common name - Oedemerids contain canthardin, a rather nasty blistering agent.
Copidita is found in the SW and East of Australia, the West coast of North America, and a few places in Central and South America, which is certainly not a distribution I've seen before. The genus has been around since at least the Eocene, as there's a fossil one known from Colorado. There's some evidence from other fossils in amber that the Oedemerids originally fed on cycad pollen before switching to angiosperms.
The Oedemerids in general are pollen-feeders, with over 1500 known species, mostly Oriental and Neotropical. The larvae feed on rotting wood. One species, Nacerda melanura, is native to Europe but has become a problem in other parts of the world where the larvae destroy salt-water soaked wood at piers. They're also apparently partial to urine-soaked telegraph poles.
Molonglo Valley, ACT