#anoplognathus

[onenicebugperday]

Christmas beetles in the genus Anoplognathus, Scarabaeidae

All found in Australia

Photo 1 by bargosnows, 2 by donnamareetomkinson, 3 by dianneclarke, 4 by jessat, 5 by flecksy, 6 by dhfischer, and 7 by living_in_fng

[creatureimages]

christmas beetle season‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

wahoo! hooray!

[herpsandbirds]

King Christmas Beetle (Anoplognathus viridiaeneus), family Scarabaeidae, QLD, Australia

photograph by Marijke Stagg

[moons-hollow]

Found this Christmas Beetle (Anoplognathus spp.) last night, look at the head bobs!

[platypu]

cashier: yeah that'll be $17.20 me: sure just a sec me: *reaches into my pocket and starts handing over these bad boys*

[sallyawayfromhome]

[vanlifersjourney-blog]

This little man is commonly called a Christmas Beetle, his correct name is Anoplognathus. He is a native Australian member of the scarab family that you only see around December hence the name Christmas Beetle. We saw these in Old Bar (NSW).

Ce petit bonhomme est communément connu sous le nom de scarabée de Noël, son vrai nom est Anaplognathus. C'est l'un des scarabées qu'on ne trouve qu'en Australie de l'Est, et seulement en Décembre d'où le surnom Scarabée de Noël. Il a été trouvé à Old Bar.

[mumble-pie]

In honour of the season, I drew an Australian Christmas icon: the golden Christmas beetle (Anoplognathus porosus). They're one of 35 species of the genus Anoplognathus, several of which are referred to as Christmas beetles. Christmas beetles are abundant in Australia in December, and look like shiny, hungry Christmas baubles. They reach up to an inch in length and come in metallic shades of gold, silver, yellow, pink, and green. Though pretty, they are destructive little critters, and can kill the eucalyptus trees on which they feed. When I was a child, Christmas beetles were prolific every summer. They were everywhere - in the trees, in the grass, dive-bombing Christmas picnics, packing themselves into door and window screens. I'd pick them up and watch them scuttle down my arms and try to burrow into the folds of my fingers. Sometime at night they'd get into the house and fly about in the dark, thwacking into walls with a meaty thud and making huge amounts of noise for such an itty creature. I'm not sure when they started vanishing. As cities have expanded, the beetles' habitats have been depleted, and until a couple of weeks ago, I hadn't seen a Christmas beetle in years, and I hadn't even realised. The sight of the little golden bodies brought back a wave of nostalgia for the summers of my childhood, and I knew immediately I had to draw one. So here we go. I meant to have this finished by the 25th, but I'm a little late with it. Nonetheless, Merry Christmas, beetle.