If not needed, this is a very useful specimen that the Australian National Insect Collection, (ANIC) part of the CSIRO at Belconnen, near Black Mountain, in Canberra, may like to have, if you still have it. If so, best to contact Federica Turco, a senior manager in ANIC, and tell her I sent you!
Its a bit hard to tell but I think this is a female (hopefully mated) that possibly died and drowned after it had finished ovipositing its ova into cracks of the bark of its Acacia larval hosts usually Acacia doratoxylon).
Looking at the records for Acacia doratoxylon in the Atlas of Living Australia, there are a bunch of records for it in Big Budginigi Hill Reserve, next to the northwest corner of the weir. Most likely there will a population of this beetle on that hill, and I bet that's where yours spent its life as a larva. A search right now might see them flying about, where, as MarkH says, they will be feeding on the foliage of Eucalyptus sp (though possibly high up in the crowns, so take good binoculars). Adults might be on the trucks of the Acacia in the mid-late afternoon of sunny hot days. yYou may find dead ones on the ground or in the strandline of the weir.
The locality is quite important as it is the furthest southerly record that I know of for this species. Being so close to the border with Victoria, I suspect, as I have often wondered about, that the species will eventually turn up in Victoria, so I will include this species in the book on the jewel beetles of Victoria that I am lead author of and which, eventually, will be published by the Entomological Society of Victoria, hopefully later this year (well, maybe!).
I note there is a significant population of Acacia doratoxylon nearby in Victoria between Wangaratta and Albury-Wodonga, so I also bet that this species will eventually turn up there.
If possible, let us know by a post here how you got on with donating it.
1,905,479 sightings of 21,334 species from 13,137 contributors CCA 3.0 | privacy
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of this land and acknowledge their continuing connection to their culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present.