Christmas beetle
| Christmas beetle | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Anoplognathus pallidicollis | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Coleoptera |
| Suborder: | Polyphaga |
| Superfamily: | Scarabaeoidea |
| Family: | Scarabaeidae |
| Genus: | Anoplognathus Leach, 1819 |
Christmas beetle is a name commonly applied to the Australian beetle genus Anoplognathus. They are known as Christmas beetles because they are abundant in both urban and rural areas close to Christmas. Christmas beetles are large (20-30 mm long) members of the scarab family that are noisy and clumsy fliers, similar to the cockchafers of Europe. They typically have elytra that are a dark or light brown, or green, in some species with a green-yellow iridescence.
The genus includes 35 species, several of which have been implicated in dieback of eucalypts. Anoplognathus pallidicollis is the species most commonly observed and associated with the name of Christmas beetle.
Species
Species include:
- Anoplognathus abnormis
- Anoplognathus aeneus
- Anoplognathus aureus
- Anoplognathus blackdownensis
- Anoplognathus boisduvalii
- Anoplognathus brevicollis
- Anoplognathus brunnipennis
- Anoplognathus chloropyrus
- Anoplognathus concolor
- Anoplognathus daemeli
- Anoplognathus flindersensis
- Anoplognathus hirsutus
- Anoplognathus macalpinei
- Anoplognathus macleayi
- Anoplognathus montanus
- Anoplognathus multiseriatus
- Anoplognathus narmarus
- Anoplognathus nebulosus
- Anoplognathus olivieri
- Anoplognathus pallidicollis
- Anoplognathus parvulus
- Anoplognathus pindarus
- Anoplognathus porosus
- Anoplognathus prasinus
- Anoplognathus punctulatus
- Anoplognathus rhinastus
- Anoplognathus rothschildti
- Anoplognathus rubiginosus
- Anoplognathus rugosus
- Anoplognathus smaragdinus
- Anoplognathus suturalis
- Anoplognathus velutinus
- Anoplognathus viridiaeneus
- Anoplognathus viriditarsis
References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Anoplognathus. |
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Wikispecies has information related to: Christmas beetle |
- Anoplognathus, ANIC Specimen Database. Australian National Insect Collection, CSIRO Entomology
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