Head, pronotum and elytra predominantly dark metallic blue; pronotum with yellow margins and elytra with three transverse yellow bands; legs and ventral side metallic green.
This species was named by Hope 1843 in honour of a Mr Fortnum who collected the type material in Adelaide. Hope 1845 specifically notes; 'The above insect was taken at the new settlement named Adelaide'. Tepper 1887 describes it as 'a rare species, being extremely shy and swift flying'.
Legend | P.J.Lang collection vouchered records | |
other private collection or museum specimens, or sightings |
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Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun |
Legend | ||
9 | number of active beetles, actually recorded in that quarter-month | |
actual count > 1 (median) | ||
actual count <= 1 (median) |
Temognatha fortnumii has a definite association with Casuarina trees. Goudie 1920 reported a specimen taken at Birchip in western Victoria 'flying amongst a grove of bull-oak trees' [= Allocasuarina luehmannii]. The specimen mapped here from the MU region was collected at Koomooloo, ENE of Burra, from 'Black oak scrub' [= Casuarina pauper]. Tepper 1887 established Drooping Sheoak Allocasuarina verticillata (then known as Casuarina quadrivalvis) as a larval host on the basis of adult specimens that he extracted from its roots and trunks.
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 |