Chrysolopus spectabilis was first described in 1775 by the Danish entomologist Johan Christian Fabricius, in his work Systema Entomologiae, making it one of the first insects to be described from Australia.

[2] Fabricius would have had ample opportunity on visits to London in the previous years to examine the insect collections from Cook's expeditions.

[3] Fabricius' species was transferred in 1817 by Ernst Friedrich Germar to the genus Chrysolopus, and so reached its current scientific name.

[5] The earliest specimen of Chrysolopus spectabilis to be collected was caught by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander at some time between April and August 1770, as part of James Cook's first voyage to the south seas.

After the colonisation of Australia in 1788, the species was frequently encountered in the summer months in the environs of Sydney, explaining the common names.

[8] The type specimen from the Endeavour expedition now forms part of the Banks Collection at the Natural History Museum in London.

The elytra display a row of furrows with slight depressions, and the animal's ventral side is also covered with scales.

[4] The larvae are 40–50 mm (1.6–2.0 in) long; they are white, round and wrinkled, with a few hairs on their sides, and a red–brown head with black mandibles.

It is most common in eastern parts of New South Wales, particularly the surroundings of Sydney, and out to the foothills of the Great Dividing Range.

They use the long snout and powerful mouthparts to make holes in the stem and leaves, in order to reach the sap and to build egg chambers.

It is very alert, and if it senses danger, will either fall to the ground and play dead, or hold fast to the plant with its legs.