Really want to see Calodema regalis again

[Kan]

It is now the Calodema season in Australia. Does anyone have any tips on where to find them in Gold Coast and northern NSW? I have only seen Calodema regalis once and really want to see them again this year. Thanks

Below are the photos I took last year.

[58chevy]

Wow, I wish Calodema was native to the USA. Spectacular beetle.

[KKarns]

Handsome species for sure. Beautifully done photography as well.

[livingplanet3]

It is now the Calodema season in Australia. Does anyone have any tips on where to find them in Gold Coast and northern NSW? I have only seen Calodema regalis once and really want to see them again this year. Thanks

Below are the photos I took last year...

Great photos! You might try contacting Peter Chew, who has a rather extensive website about the insects of the Brisbane area -

https://www.brisbaneinsects.com/pchew_b ... index.html

Allen Sundholm had a site about Australian Buprestidae, but it seems to no longer be online -

http://entom.customer.netspace.net.au/H ... tidae.html

Adult Calodema regalis (https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/Calodema_regalis) appear to most often be attracted to the flowers of the eucalypt Corymbia gummifera (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corymbia_gummifera), though I don't know if this tree is also the host of the larvae. Adults have been seen on the flowers of various other trees, as well.

Wow, I wish Calodema was native to the USA. Spectacular beetle.

Agreed! I have only one species of Calodema in my collection, C. ribbei (a pair), from Papua New Guinea -


https://www.zin.ru/animalia/coleoptera/rus/calribcc.htm

[58chevy]

I have C. ribbei & C. regale blairi. Wish I had all of them, but they are supposed to be difficult & expensive to acquire these days. Mine are decades old.

[livingplanet3]

I have C. ribbei & C. regale blairi. Wish I had all of them, but they are supposed to be difficult & expensive to acquire these days. Mine are decades old.

You're fortunate to have C. regalis; I saw a specimen (ssp. blairi) sell for the (inflated) price of over USD $500 at auction several years ago. The bidding wars on some of these Australasian buprestidae can get rather ridiculous. C. wallacei is even scarcer in collections -


https://www.pinterest.ch/pin/575897871102561599/

[Trehopr1]

Agreed, certainly the uncommon or rarely encountered Australian buprestidae are the equivalent of dabbling in Agrias (amongst collectors of butterflies).

Of course little wonder since some of the uncommon species have either irregular life cycles (when things don't line up during their typical hatching period) or they may have very long life cycles where adults may not hatch for many years.

[kevinkk]

Those are some beautiful beetles- as if they all aren't. just some are better than others...
I read once in an insect book that during a piano concerto a beetle emerged out of the wood the piano was made of. I don't recall the book,
but there was some conjecture about how something like that could occur. "Is there an entomologist in the house!?"

[livingplanet3]

Those are some beautiful beetles- as if they all aren't. just some are better than others...
I read once in an insect book that during a piano concerto a beetle emerged out of the wood the piano was made of. I don't recall the book,
but there was some conjecture about how something like that could occur. "Is there an entomologist in the house!?"

I too, seem to vaguely recall hearing about that.

Also - allegedly, on May 27, 1983, a buprestid emerged from a staircase in Essex, UK after at least 47 years as a larva. The source of this info is Guinness World Records 2005, but that's the only reference to this story that I've ever seen. What species was it? How was it confirmed that it had indeed emerged from the staircase? Was the emergence hole found? Questions!

[Lucanidae25]

Ken consider yourself very lucky to come across it. It took me more than 10 years of looking every year before I caught my 1st Calodema regalis. You can look at the same area every year unless all the conditions are perfect they won't come out. I don't think you need to find new areas instead you need to find the right year. There is no pattern with their emergences over the years

[Kan]

Ken consider yourself very lucky to come across it. It took me more than 10 years of looking every year before I caught my 1st Calodema regalis. You can look at the same area every year unless all the conditions are perfect they won't come out. I don't think you need to find new areas instead you need to find the right year. There is no pattern with their emergences over the years

Thank you very much! This year doesn't look like a good year and I haven't seen any Calodema so far.