Northeastern Pine Sawyer Beetle
Size about 30mm plus very long antennae. It was hiding behind a slightly rolled leaf of our Lime tree. A grasshopper on the other side of the leaf made me assume that this was a hopper, too. This species puzzled me for a few days and made me go through thousands of photos with no result. A simple google search produced an almost perfect match at http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio210/s2012/kelm_emil/index.htm. It is unknown to me whether this genus is represented in Australia. ALA lists some Monochamus species, but not the genus. It also refuses to give any assistance regarding the higher taxa of this genus. I think it is safe to say that this belongs to the Cerambycidae family, but no ALA picture matches, hardly comes close. There are not many pines in the area, just one Norfolk pine. Actually, GBIF lists an animal Monochammus (sic!) frenchi from Rockhampton, stored at the Museum of Victoria. Following the name trail in ALA to Monochammus frenchi makes me pretty confident Australian scientists would have this species as Batocera for which there is a similar looking species in ALA. It is weird finding that there is a collector's market for these animals on ebay.
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