Many different beetles come to the moth light, at times they are in very large numbers and are a great nuisance to the moth photographer, blundering around and disturbing the settled moths. At other times smaller numbers come in and can be of considerable interest, this post shows a selection from a night’s mothing on Gladstone Creek, beginning with some longicorns.

Paropsis leaf-eating beetles can be very destructive. In this part of Gippsland huge swarms of Christmas beetles used to defoliate the Forest Red Gums, then when the trees began to put out fresh foliage the paropsis beetles would appear to  demolish the regrowth, putting the trees under great stress and doubtless contributing to the extensive dieback that occurred in some areas.  That said they can be very attractive in appearance. Thankfully, locally at least, that seems to be a thing of the past, perhaps we have the ibis flocks to thank for eating the Christmas Beetle larvae and effectively controlling the adult beetle numbers.

Bess Beetles often visit the light.

With the creek bone dry it was a little surprising to see a predacious diving beetle.

And finally, two shots of a weevil species.

Click images to enlarge.

…is closely related to the lacewings, and often comes to the light when mothing near streams. Two came to the light recently when mothing beside the bone dry Gladstone Creek. The adults skim over the surface of the water at dusk, and the water dwelling larvae are predators, feeding on small aquatic invertebrates, but are themselves eagerly consumed by fish. The adults do not feed, living just to mate and produce the next generation, a chancy process in a foothill creek like the Gladstone that can, as now, dry out. An impressive insect species, and very photogenic.

Click to enlarge.

Reference and further reading, Australian Insects by Bert Brunet.