Rhipicera femorata
5 Feather-horned beetle at Higgins, ACT
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| Rhipicera femorata | AlisonMilton | 26 Mar 2023 |
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User's notes
Reading a book out on my deck I noticed an insect fluttering around the clothesline looking suspiciously like a feather-horned beetle. An unusual sight in suburban Higgins. I was right. A female clung to a strut on the clothesline while the male flew round trying to reach her, which he finally and they naturally mated. I returned to my book. About an hour later the male was still flying round the clotheslines searching for his lady love, landing and searching in vain as she had moved on.
Later still I glanced down and in a bucket of coconut fibre I was using for planinting pots I saw the female, perhaps trying to lay her eggs. I then saw that the male was also in the bucket. I was amazed that he had tracked her down but both seemed to be struggling in the loose fibre so I retrieved them. The female quickly flew off but the male seemed unwell and stayed. About 15 minutes later the female was on the arm of my chair. The male, about a metre away, where I'd moved him to a more confortable position, suddenly turned in her direction as if sensiing her presence. She then flew to the deck and walked under a shady pot. The male sadly, weakened and eventually died, having done what nature intended.
1 comment
26 Mar 2023
The pectinate antennae of the male can pick up just a few molecules of pheromone emitted by a female so locating her is easy. Great observations
Location information
- Coordinates 149.029494-35.238208
- Altitude 631.7m
- Places Higgins, ACT
Sighting information
- 2 Abundance
- 26 Mar 2023 01:08 PM Recorded on
- AlisonMilton Recorded by
- 12mm to 25mm Animal size
- Mixed Gender
- Breeding behaviour Breeding behaviour
- Alive / healthy Animal health
Collections
- AlisonMilton Canberra & Southern Tablelands NatureMapr Rhipicera femorata Other beetles Beetles (Coleoptera) Insects
Species information
- Rhipicera femorata Scientific name
- Feather-horned beetle Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Local native
- Non-invasive or negligible
- Up to 1214.9m Recorded at altitude
- External link More information
Record quality
Quality score
6 / 7
- Images or audio
- More than one media file
- Verified by an expert moderator
- GPS evidence of location
- Description
- Additional attributes
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species