Gold Coast BeetlesAcacia Leaf Beetle (Dicranosterna picea) Brown Flower Beetle (Glycyphana stolata) Castiarina bella Castiarina luteipennis Chauliognathus flavipennis Darkling Beetle (Ecnolagria aurofasciata) Green Strip Leaf Beetle (Calomela pallida) Lycid Beetle (Porrostoma laterale) Mesolita lineolata Pandorea Leaf Beetle (Johannica gemellata) White Acacia Leaf Beetle (Dicranosterna circe)
Ecnolagria aurofasciata, belong to the Darkling Beetles (family Tenebrionidae). This is a very diverse group of beetles in Australia, with over 1,500 recorded species. This species Ecnolagria aurofasciata is also known as the Black Darkling Beetle.
Most species of Darkling Beetle species are scavengers, feeding on dead plant or fungal material. Many species are also flightless, although Ecnolagria aurofasciata is known to fly, especially when disturbed.
The genus are found in a wide variety of habitats from woodlands to the coast. The species Ecnolagria aurofasciata, current observations are restricted to east coast of Australia, from Hervey Bay in Queensland to north of Lismore in New South Wales.
The specimen pictured here was photographed in the Gold Coast, Queensland.
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Subphylum: Hexapoda
- Class: Insecta
- Informal: Pterygotes
- Order: Coleoptera
- Suborder: Polyphaga
- Superfamily: Tenebrionoidea
- Family: Tenebrionidae
- Informal: Lagrioid Branch
- Subfamily: Lagriinae
- Tribe: Lagriini
- Subtribe: Lagriina
- Genus: Ecnolagria
- Species: Ecnolagria aurofasciata
Footnote & References
- Darkling Beetle (Ecnolagria aurofasciata), Photographs © Stefan Jones
- Ecnolagria aurofasciata (Borchmann, 1915), Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/5c84e0fd-783f-43d4-9ad0-5983de3d4442
- Black Darkling Beetle – Ecnolagria aurofasciata, Brisbane Insects and Spiders, http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_darklings/BlackDarklingBeetle.htm
Gold Coast BeetlesAcacia Leaf Beetle (Dicranosterna picea) Brown Flower Beetle (Glycyphana stolata) Castiarina bella Castiarina luteipennis Chauliognathus flavipennis Darkling Beetle (Ecnolagria aurofasciata) Green Strip Leaf Beetle (Calomela pallida) Lycid Beetle (Porrostoma laterale) Mesolita lineolata Pandorea Leaf Beetle (Johannica gemellata) White Acacia Leaf Beetle (Dicranosterna circe)
QueenslandGold Coast Region Lamington National Park Southern Downs QLD