Community & Business
22 December, 2023
Where have all the beetles gone?
THE search is on to find Christmas beetles and locals can help by spotting the shiny insects and reporting their sightings to a new project aimed at finding out why they are being seen less and less.
Invertebrates Australia and entomologist Associate Professor Tanya Latty are trying to find out why Christmas beetles seem to be on the decline, by using iNaturalist to track these beetles around Australia.
Christmas beetles (Anoplognathus spp) are a group of iconic Australian insects that emerge in early spring and are associated with Christmas. In the past, millions of these large, colourful beetles used to fly around in December and January.
Sadly, Christmas beetle sightings appear to be in decline but because there is no formal monitoring program, the new project needs your help to track the population of Christmas beetles so that they can identify species that may be at risk.
The project is a collaboration between Invertebrates Australia and the University of Sydney.
To assist, if you see a suspected Christmas beetle, take a photo and upload to iNaturalist.
They would like photos of the top, bottom, back and rear of the beetle as this will help with identification.
You can report your images by going to www.inaturalist.org/projects/christmas-beetle-count?tab=species or go to www.invertebratesaustralia.org/christmasbeetles
CHRISTMAS BEETLE FAST FACTS
♣ Christmas beetles are large scarab beetles in the Genus Anoplognathus
♣ There are 35 Christmas beetle species found throughout Australia
♣ Many species are brightly coloured or iridescent
♣ The larvae of Christmas beetles feed primarily on the roots of native grasses
