On 7 February 1995 the Medical Entomology Branch (MEB) received a request from the D.M.O. (Dr Steven Gutheridge) for information on any insects capable of causing severe rash. Dr Gutheridge reported that the majority of inhabitants from the Mardingar Aboriginal outstation had evacuated the outstation due to the severity of an outbreak of dermatitis. MEB supplied articles on potential insect pests and in particular, the "whiplash rove beetle" Paederus australis Guerin-Meneville. This beetle was shown to be the causative agent for several earlier reports of blistering skin lesions from nearby Palumpa and Peppimenarti (Whelan and Weir, 1987).