The Victorian naturalist . stralasiae (Don), Diaphonia dorsalis (Don)(Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae, Cetoniinae) BY J. AlDERSON * Introduction About 120 species of Cetoniinaeoccur in Australia, and all are diurnaland feed on nectar. Most species areattractively patterned or have metalliccolouring. They are well representedin collections but, as far as I amaware, Httle is known of their be-haviour and their predators, and nodescriptions of their larvae have beenpublished. In this paper observations on thebehaviour and the predators of the two rose chaffer beetles, Eupoecilaaustralasiae (Don) and Dia
The Victorian naturalist . stralasiae (Don), Diaphonia dorsalis (Don)(Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae, Cetoniinae) BY J. AlDERSON * Introduction About 120 species of Cetoniinaeoccur in Australia, and all are diurnaland feed on nectar. Most species areattractively patterned or have metalliccolouring. They are well representedin collections but, as far as I amaware, Httle is known of their be-haviour and their predators, and nodescriptions of their larvae have beenpublished. In this paper observations on thebehaviour and the predators of the two rose chaffer beetles, Eupoecilaaustralasiae (Don) and Diaphoniadorsalis (Don), are reported. Descrip-tions of the mature larvae of the twobeetles are also presented. Distribution The two species occur in the coastalregion from Queensland to the SouthAustralian border. The specimens ofmature larvae described here were Fisheries and Wildlife Division, Arthur RylahInstitute for Environmental Research, Victoria. Plate I: Below — Eupoecila australasiaeAt left — Diaphonia dorsalis. 86 Vict. Nat. Vol. 93 collected on hillsides north-east ofMelbourne. Adult Eupoecila australasiae (plateI) ranged in length from 12 to 22 mmand from late December to earlyFebruary are often seen feeding onthe flowers of Austral grass-tree{Xanthorrhoea australis), sweet bur-saria {Bursaria spinosa), prickly tea-tree (Leptospermum juniperinum),Angophora and a variety of Eucalyp-tus spp. Adult Diaphonia dorsalis (plate I)ranged from 23 to 28 mm but ap-peared to feed only on the flowers ofeucalypts.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdec, booksubjectnaturalhistory, bookyear1884
