Jewel Beetles | Western Australian Museum (original) (raw)

These high resolution images capture the stunning beauty of some of Western Australia’s native jewel beetles, held in the Museum’s pinned insect collection. Jewel beetles belong to the family Buprestidae which contains some 1200 described species in Australia. Most species in WA belong to the genera Temognatha, Castiarina and Melobasis. Adult jewel beetles feed on the nectar of native flowering plants during the day and can be seen in their thousands at particular times of certain years. Very little is known of the larval stage of most species other than they bore into native plant species. Due to their appeal to collectors jewel beetles have been gazetted as “rare fauna” in Western Australia since 1978 and cannot be collected without a scientific permit.