Bugs: Yellow, orange, and black stripes
A couple of days ago, I saw a pretty bug on the window of my car. It was long, and striped with yellow, orange, and black. It had long feelers which it waved around, and large feet.
On looking closer, I noticed that it’s not one but two bugs. There’s a small bug on top of the larger one. I’m guessing the smaller one is a male and that they’re mating. Or maybe it’s a baby bug hitching a ride on an adult? Here they are again, from a slightly different angle:
Does anyone know anything about these bugs? I saw them on Sydney’s Northern beaches in late spring.
Update on 30 November 2021: It’s an Imperial Soldier Beetle (Chauliognathus imperialis). Sightings of this beetle seem to be quite rare. Thank you to Hamish Robertson for the identification. And indeed, the smaller beetle is the male, the larger is the female.
Posted on 2021/11/29, in Not a bird and tagged australia, beetles, bugs, Imperial Solder Beetle, sydney. Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments.
Sydney Birder 
Hi Sarah
Contact the entomology people at the Australia Museum in Sydney: https://australian.museum/learn/collections/natural-science/entomology/ (there’s a link to the main person, and also further down the page there’s a link to ‘ask an expert’). They were most helpful some years ago when I needed a native Western Australian cockroach identified (J hadn’t found a new species, but it was a new variation!)
–Rhonda
Hallo Rhonda!
Nice to see you again, even if only virtually. An entomologist friend of mine has identified it as an Imperial Soldier Beetle (Chauliognathus imperialis).