A highly variable configuration of yellowish lacunae on a on a blackish background.
A widespread species on foliage of Casuarinas. Well known in WA and first reported for SA by Barker 1977 from east of Kimba, Eyre Peninsula, where there is a localised patch of the shrubby Allocasuarina helmsii. Hawkeswood & Peterson 1982 pointed to the earlier report from Victoria by Goudie 1920, and the species was later recorded in Queensland by (Barker 1989).
Recent records presented here show Astraeus irregularis to be more common in SA than previously thought, being found here also on Allocasuarina muelleriana (Slaty Oakbush), a common and widespread shrub of mallee heath vegetation on sandy soils and dune crests of Eyre Peninsula and the Murray Region.
Beetles often sit on upper stems within the canopy where they are well camouflaged amongst the dappled shadows, but they are shy and readily drop when approached.
Legend | records | count of breeding adults, pupae and larvae |
sites | count of major sites (unique 10 km grid cells +/- some distinct approximate localities) |
adult | live = extracted alive; dead = extracted dead as intact or fragmentary remains; ex billet = reared and emerged from stored sections of host; ex pupa = reared from sampled pupa |
pupa | extracted pupa; pupa ex larva = reared pupa from larva |
larva | extracted larva (any stage including prepupa) |
gall (only) | hatched or unhatched gall identified by form and position rather than contents |
Plant names in green are hyperlinked to a matching host species page with plant photos. |
In SA, Astraeus irregularis has only been recorded in the foliage of two shrubby Casuarina species, Allocasuarina helmsii and A. muelleriana. Previously I noted on this web page that these were most likely its larval hosts also. In November 2022, Alex Stolarski and I found a dead adult A. irregularis in a stem of Smooth-cone Oak-bush (A. helmsii), establishing that species' status as a larval host plant. It was found towards the base of a 4 cm diameter stem and there were associated appropriately sized larvae, bearing uniramous grooves on both the dorsal and ventral pro-thoracic plates as is characteristic of Astraeus. As Allocasuarina helmsii only occurs in a small part of the range of A. irregularis in SA, A. muelleriana is most likely the main larval host plant.
In Victoria, Goudie 1920 reported: 'One of my specimens was taken (at Birchip) in its tunnel in a branch of the 'bull-oak,' Casuarina luehmanni [= Allocasuarina luehmannii]. Two others were taken on the foliage of the same tree at Green Lake, near Sea Lake, 21/1/16.' Buloke (Allocasuarina luehmannii) extends a little way into south-eastern SA, but there are currently no SA records of A. irregularis that overlap its distribution.
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. |