Castiarina crenata on Kunzea ambigua - Location: Blue Mountains, Australia
One of these jewel beetles was drinking the nectar from these flowers, and then the other one flew down to 'get cosy' with them.
Kunzea ambigua is a powerhouse of a plant in the local area - over 142 (!!!) different insect and spider species have been counted on this plant (most of them pollinating it).
Just looking at Jewel Beetles (Buprestidae) alone, at least 17 different species have been documented on these plants in the local area.
In Australia there are about 1200 known, described species of Jewel Beetles / Buprestidae.
More info on Jewel Beetles in Australia here: australian.museum/blog/science/amri-the-ecology-of-austra...
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Taxonomy - Castiarina crenata
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Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Class: Insecta
Subclass: Pterygota
Order: Coleoptera
Suborder: Polyphaga
Infraorder: Elateriformia
Superfamily: Buprestoidea
Family: Buprestidae
Subfamily: Buprestinae
Tribe: Stigmoderini
Genus: Castiarina
Species: Castiarina crenata
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Taxonomy - Kunzea ambigua
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Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Myrtales
Family: Myrtaceae
Subfamily: Myrtoideae
Tribe: Leptospermeae
Genus: Kunzea
Species: Kunzea ambigua
