About Dicranolaius bellulus (Boisduval) Boisduval
Dicranolaius bellulus, commonly called the red and blue beetle, is a species of soft-winged flower beetle belonging to the family Melyridae. It is found across all mainland Australian states and territories. Félix Édouard Guérin-Méneville first partially described this species in 1830, publishing only illustrations under the name Malachius bellulus. He did not complete the description with full text until 1838. As a result, the Australian Faunal Directory recognizes Jean Baptiste Boisduval’s 1835 publication (also under the name Malachius bellulus) as the first valid description of the species. A 2017 paper by Liu, Slipinski and Pang provides taxonomic reasoning for all of this species’ associated synonyms.
