#phyllotocus

[onenicebugperday]

@rub-the-rest-with-yellow submitted: G'day again! Spring is here, its already 31 degrees and there was a swarm outside! I thought the usual bees had multiplied but it was actually mostly these beetles, so I was wondering what they were and if they normally travel with hundreds of friends? The beetles and i are in south-east Queensland. And have a nice day!

Hi! That sure is a lot of friends on those flowers. They're nectar scarabs in the genus Phyllotocus. And yes, it is very normal for them to appear in very large numbers!

[drhoz]

The Great ACT-NSW-NZ Trip, 2023-2024 - Gundagai

AYArktos' photo from Wiki, since I was too busy looking for insects around the place to photograph the statue.

Gundagai is a small town on the Hume Highway between Sydney and Melbourne, and site of the famous Dog on the Tuckerbox, from a doggeral poem written at least as early as 1857. The bullock team driver in the poem was not having a good day, and the poem was considered quite rude even without the popular variations with an added 'h'

And the dog sat on the tuckerbox five miles from Gundagai.

@purrdence and I hadn't planned on stopping there - we'd originally intended to catch the train from Wagga Wagga to Sydney. But we didn't want to infect anybody with COVID.

[drhoz]

[drhoz]

#229 - Nectar Scarabs

An assortment of Phyllotocus.  Nectar-feeding chafers characterized by long spiky legs and a somewhat half-hearted resemblance to Lycid beetles.  Some of the smaller species are notorious for their attraction to anything white - washing, tennis players, brides... leading to their other common name of Washing Beetle