Cleobora mellyi (Mulsant, 1850) (a species of ladybird)

Semmens, T.D., McQuillan, P.B. & Hayhurst, G. (1992). Catalogue of the Insects of Tasmania. Government of Tasmania: Department of Primary Industry, 104 pp. (as Cleobora mellyi)

TMAG collections

Typical length (mm): 9
Flightedness: winged and assumed capable of flight

Assumed larval feeding: predator
Association with dead wood or old trees: not saproxylic

Ecological attributes: — May occupy logs or trunks of Eucalyptus obliqua, at least temporarily, since found having emerged within six years of felling (Grove et al., 2009) — Predatory on Paropsisterna bimaculata (Baker et al., 2003).
Collection method(s) for TFIC material: — Baited trapping (funnel trap) — Emergence trapping from log of Eucalyptus obliqua — Flight intercept trapping (trough below Malaise trap) — Hand collection from flowers of Eucryphia lucida (Ettershanks & Ettershanks, 1993) — Knockdown fogging of canopy of Eucalyptus obliqua — Knockdown fogging of canopy of Nothofagus cunninghamii — Malaise trapping — Not specified — Pitfall trapping — Sticky trapping on Acacia melanoxylon — Sticky trapping on Eucalyptus obliqua — Sticky trapping on Eucalyptus viminalis — Trapping using a range of devices placed in crown of Eucalyptus obliqua (Bar-Ness, 2005).

Source ecological literature:
Bashford, R. (1999). Predation by ladybird beetles (coccinellids) on immature stages of the Eucalyptus leaf beetle Chrysophtharta bimaculata (Olivier). Tasforests 11: 77-86.

Grove, S.J. (2009b). Beetles and fuelwood harvesting: a retrospective study from Tasmania’s southern forests. Tasforests 18: 77-99.

Baker, S.C. et al. (2003). Inundative release of coccinellid beetles into eucalypt plantations for biological control of chrysomelid leaf beetles. Agr. For. Entom. 5: 97-106.

Bar-Ness, Y. (2005). Crown structure and the canopy arthropod biodiversity of 100 year old and old-growth Tasmanian Eucalyptus obliqua. Msc thesis, Univ. of Tasmania, Hobart.

Daley, E. (2007). Wings: an introduction to Tasmania’s winged insects. Hobart: 40 Degrees South Pty. Ltd., 236 pages.

Grove, S. et al. (2009). A long-term experimental study of saproxylic beetle … succession in Tasmanian Eucalyptus … logs… In: Fattorini, S. (Ed.), Insect Ecology and Conservation. Research Signpost, pp. 71-114.

Harrison, K.S. (2007). Saproxylic beetles associated with habitat features in Eucalyptus obliqua trees in the southern forests of Tasmania. PhD thesis, Dept. of Zoology, Univ. of Tasmania, Hobart.

Taylor, R.J. (1990). Occurrence of log-dwelling invertebrates in regeneration and oldgrowth wet sclerophyll forest in southern Tasmania. Pap. Proc. Roy. Soc. Tas. 124: 27-34.