Callipappus australis

The bird of paradise fly exhibits sexual dimorphism. The adult female is up to about 2 cm (0.8 in) in length and a dark bluish-black or purplish colour. It is an elongated oval in shape with a plump, domed appearance. It has three pairs of legs, but no wings. The adult male in contrast is much smaller and resembles a fly. It has a slender, violet-coloured body, three pairs of legs, a pair of translucent wings and a tuft of long glassy white waxen filaments protruding from the tip of the abdomen.^[2]

This species of scale insect is native to Australia where it occurs in Queensland and New South Wales.^[2]

Adult males and females emerge from the ground in the autumn. The female climbs up a tree, post or any other vertical surface and this is where mating takes place. After mating, the female attaches herself to a surface and invaginates her abdomen, creating a "marsupium" in which she lays a batch of eggs. She dies soon thereafter, her cuticle making a leathery protective casing for the eggs. The first instar nymphs, known as crawlers, descend to the ground and attach themselves to the roots of plants by inserting their piercing mouthparts. A waxen cyst forms around them. Their plant hosts include Banksia and probably Xanthorrhoea and other mallee, woodland and heathland plants.^[1] The feeding stages live entirely underground, sucking sap from roots, but their range of host plants has not been fully elucidated;^[3] the type specimens were found on the trunk of Angophora, but it is quite likely that this is not a host plant, and merely provides an elevated position for breeding activities.^[2]