[Photos] Green Scarab Beetles (Diphucephala) and flies in their breeding glory.

[moonvoice]

It's that time of year again.
Except, for the few weeks the green scarab beetles are out and dressed for spring,
they've been getting hit hard by rains.
So there's not as many clinging to the bedraggled acacia this year
and actually, I had to run out before heavy rains hit again, and bounced them all right off the bushes in which they'd made their home.















Though flies can be a royal pain in the ass, when they're in breeding/mating colouring, I find them beautiful and fascinating. Especially when they're outside and not in my home!









Sharing. The flies let me get very close, because it was early morning, cold, and they were sluggish. I must have just caught them as they were waking up, because I did some pruning for about twenty minutes after that, and they were all gone by then, even though I was pruning a different section of the garden. Must be nice to fall asleep on all that food. Acacias are not remotely stingy with their pollen.

Comments

[ariestess]

So very pretty!

[moonvoice]

They really are. A short jewel beetle season though, most did get washed away with the rains!

[moonvoice]

Thank you! I miss dragging out the camera and taking photos like this! I think I rely too much on Instagram these days because it's so convenient. But actually messing around with focus / and subjects and getting these kinds of pictures is just so much fun.

[nachtrabe]

Oh those are stunning!

[moonvoice]

Eee, thank you. :) They're sweet little beetles. And they only really like Acacias, so they can be hard to find (especially as they're only out for about 2/3 weeks a year), I'm lucky we have a local population in our own back yard.

[jensurvivor]

I confess that i'd not had the same charity toward flies, but your photo might have changed my mind

[moonvoice]

I have no charity when they're in the home (or very near me while I'm eating something), but when it's morning and they're sleeping and glossy and iridescent, I love them very much. They're just trying to make a place in the world for themselves like we are. It's just very unfortunate they try and make that place in our eyes/ears/food in the height of Summer!

[jensurvivor]

I suspect we must have less of a fly problem here than where you are.

[hrafn]

Oh, shiny beetles! I feel sad about them getting knocked off the plants by rain though ;-;

"Must be nice to fall asleep on all that food."

LOL! Breakfast in is bed.

[moonvoice]

Yeah, they did get really hammered by recent storms, and I haven't seen many since. They might be slowly climbing up the bushes again, or it may have actually done them in (especially if they'd bred, since they don't live very long).

But they are awesome.

Heh, breakfast is bed - yes!

[white_rabbit]

:D

Gosh these little guys make me happy! They are so shiny!

[moonvoice]

They are very very shiny. And sweet! I love them to pieces.

[paleo]

Most lovely! Do you know if there's any good way to tell scarabs apart from other beetles? I don't *think* we have any here, but it would be nice to know for sure.

[moonvoice]

It's a massive, massive family. So the best way might be to actually email a local museum and ask if there are any representatives of Scarabidae in North America.

The common rose chafer in both America and Europe is a scarab beetle. :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarabaeidae

[paleo]

Well, this isn't the first time you've inspired me to do internet research. :D I found out that there are over 100 species of Scarabidae in Texas, including a beetle I've known since childhood as June bugs. But I also found out that there are many different species of scarabs that Americans call June bugs, so the insect I point to and call June bug wouldn't be the same as the insect someone in Colorado would call a June bug.

:Nature-geekery mode over:

[moonvoice]

Ah that's so awesome! And it's always the way - 'christmas beetles' here can mean many different families. It tends to mean anoplognathus, but here in Western Australia, it can also mean diphucephala - the ones in my pictures.

[laughinglotus]

Nice. I like bugs. :)