Entomological Society of Queensland

supporting entomological research in Australia since 1923

The Society's emblem, chosen in 1973, on the 50th anniversary of the Society, is the King Stag Beetle, Phalacrognathus muelleri (Macleay), Family Lucanidae (Coleoptera). Its magnificent purple and green colouration makes it one of the most attractive beetle species in Australia. It is restricted to the rainforests of northern Queensland.

Archive of past Queensland Entomologists

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Silvester DIGGLES (1817-1880)

Diggles was the pioneer entomologist of Brisbane and the first resident collector. Born in Liverpool, England, he came to Brisbane in 1854 and made a living as a piano tuner and teacher of drawing and music. A leading intellectual of the young colony, he was instrumental in founding both the Queensland Philosophical Society (now Royal Society of Qld) and the Queensland Museum. He collected many Lepidoptera and Coleoptera and sent them to the British Museum for description by Francis Walker. He first recorded the immigrant North American Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) from Australia in 1871. He mentored the young Roland Illidge in entomology and his own Queensland collection passed via Illidge to the South Australian Museum.

Biography: Marks, E. N. (1963) Qld. Nat. 17: 15-25.