Christmas Beetle (𝘈𝘯𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘴 sp) Photo by NSW Biodiversity Trust from https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=765714778917942&set=a.641488551340566&type=3&locale=en_GB

Dear Readers, invertebrates may be few and far between here in the UK, but in Australia it’s spring, and the Christmas beetles are emerging. And what spectacular beetles they are! They are members of the scarab beetle family, and there are about 36 species in total. They remind me a little of the rose chafer beetles that we get here in the UK.

Rose Chafer from the UK

The Christmas beetle grubs feed on grass roots, and hence need lawns in order to thrive. When they emerge, they feed on eucalyptus leaves. They can be found in Southern and Eastern Australia, and in Tasmania, and often emerge after heavy rain.

The commonest Christmas beetle – Anoplognathus pallidicollis Photo by By Cyron Ray Macey from Brisbane (-27.470963,153.026505), Australia – Flickr, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=343947

Christmas beetles are not the most accurate of fliers, and can often be seen bumbling around and crashing into things, especially if there are outside lights. However, once they get orientated their main ambitions in life are to eat and mate, so after emergence their lives tend to be short (but hopefully happy).And look at this magnificent insect! This is the King Christmas Beetle, and can grow to over 3 centimetres long. The naturalist Edward Donovan described it thus:

 “Nature seems to have devoted abundant attention to the embellishment of this common insect: its glow of colouring is peculiar and inimitable. The prevailing hues do not strictly please us by their harmony as their contrast, which is indeed striking, or rather glaring, but upon the whole produce a rich effect”

Well, indeed, but all in all I’d say this is just a magnificent insect. He or she can fly into my outside lights anytime.

King Christmas Beetle () Photo by By (c) Nigel Main, some rights reserved (CC BY) – https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/344416193, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=147986150

Then there’s the Washerwoman Christmas Beetle, probably named because there are little ridges on the wing covers that look a little like those on a washboard.

Washerwoman Christmas Beetle (Anoplognathus porosus) Photo by By tjeales – https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/247059251, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=127974377

Sadly, Christmas beetles are in decline in Australia – droughts kill the grass that the beetle grubs feed on, and native eucalyptus is not planted as often as it once was. In Sydney, anecdotal evidence from the 1920s suggests that the eucalyptus branches used to bow down into the waters of Sydney Harbour under the weight of the Christmas beetle ‘baubles’, Alas, Sydney, like so many cities has grown in the past hundred years. Still, people are now aware of the problem and, like nature-minded folk everywhere, are doing what they can to stem the decline. Let’s hope they succeed!

Golden-brown Christmas Beetle (Anoplognathus chloropyrus) Photo By PotMart186 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=113099944