Resembles Temognatha mitchellii but with metallic blue to green reflections on head and pronotum and on dark areas above and below. Females have a distinctive bicornate, sclerotised ovipositor structure and the subtantially smaller males lack the dark bands on the elytra.
Peterson 1991c erected the subgenus Calotemognatha for three Temognatha species with a distinctive modified ovipositor. The characteristic strongly sclerotised ovipositor valves with projecting horns are visible in the third image above. The significance of these characters was re-evaluated by Bellamy & Peterson 2000 who then elevated Calotemognatha as a separate genus.
The genus has a western centre of diversity, with the other two Calotemognatha species and the other two C. yarelli subspecies being confined to WA.
Legend | |
| number of active beetles, actually recorded in that quarter-month |
| estimate of active beetles, inferred* from adjoining date ranges |
| actual count > 1 (median) |
| actual count <= 1 (median) |
| inferred* active beetles only (mostly from colour lure trap results) |
| *Inferred when a site has counts of active beetles for each of two consecutive
periods (date ranges), one finishing and the other starting in the same
quarter-month. The count estimate is assigned to that quarter-month and calculated
as the lower of the two total beetle counts, divided by the number of quarter-months
in its date range.
Assumes that beetle activity is essentially continuous within a single active period per year, and that date ranges do not bridge a non-active period (thus only ranges of < 4 months are used). |
Adults are found on summer-flowering Myrtaceae and show a strong association with Melaleuca which is suspected to be its larval host. Tepper 1887 recorded that 'the beetles are found in November or later on the flowers of Melaleuca parvifolia [= M. lanceolata] and M. acuminata, in the Murray scrub and elsewhere'.
¹ Legend | regions | SA State Herbarium regions (map)
EA: Eastern, EP: Eyre Peninsula, FR: Flinders Ranges, GT: Gairdner-Torrens, KI: Kangaroo Island, LE: Lake Eyre, MU: Murray, NL: Northern Lofty, NU: Nullarbor, NW: North-Western, SE: South-Eastern, SL: Southern Lofty, YP: Yorke Peninsula |
| size | The ellipse is the correct size when printed, indicative on a desktop screen, and likely to be wrong on a mobile device. |