Imperial soldier beetle

Chauliognathus imperialis

A vividly coloured soldier beetle found in south eastern Australia. Other common names include Yellow soldier beetle, Leatherwing beetle, Imperial soldier beetle.
Leatherwing beetle Chauliognathus imperialis is a beetle in family Cantharidae, also commonly known as Soldier beetles. 15 mm length Australia,Cantharidae,Chauliognathus imperialis,Coleoptera,Geotagged,Leatherwing beetle,Macro,Soldier Beetle,Soldier beetle,arthropod,fauna,insect,invertebrate,summer

Appearance

Adult females are approximately 15mm long and males less than half that.
Elytra are predominantly yellow with black shoulders and tips.
Abdomen isa deep saffron colour. Legs, heads are glossy, black.
Imperial soldier beetle - Chauliognathus imperialis Australia,Chauliognathus imperialis,Geotagged,Imperial soldier beetle,Spring

Naming

Known synonyms:-
Telephorus sticticus Gemminger, 1870
Telephorus pictus Castelnau, 1840
Telephorus imperialis Redtenbacher, 1867

Distribution

South-eastern Australia; NSW, ACT, Vic. occasionally far south Qld. Not known in Tas.

Behavior

Occasionally in large numbers over short periods otherwise not found or very rare.

Habitat

Open schlerophyll woodlands, grasslands usually near water, large numbers when flowers are available.

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

Atlas of Living Australia
https://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:biodiversity.org.au:afd.taxon:aa4212fc-88e0-4db9-9a85-c9d6e5728b3e#overview
Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionArthropoda
ClassInsecta
OrderColeoptera
FamilyCantharidae
GenusChauliognathus
SpeciesChauliognathus imperialis
Photographed in
Australia