Habitat: Rainforests
Distribution: Seen only in south-east Queensland, and a little further south in New South Wales
Conservation status: -
Main threats: -
About
The 'Tim Tam' Bug (Zopherosis georgei), was found and recorded for the first time at Springbrook, Queensland in 2013. It is very rare, previously seen only in rainforest on Wollumbin and a little further south in New South Wales, and is potentially a relic of the Big Scrub forest.
It belongs to a small Gondwanan subfamily of beetles known as the ironclad beetles (Zopherinae), because their skeleton is one of the hardest of all arthropods. This one species alone represents the subfamily in Australia.
Almost nothing is known of its biology other than it seems to eat the bracket fungus Ganoderma applanatum.
The specimen photographed above was found in October 2013 by a friend of the Australian Rainforest Conservation Society. Another great reason to protect our rainforests!