Christmas beetle is a name commonly applied to the Australian beetle genus ''Anoplognathus'', which belongs to the subfamily

Rutelinae Rutelinae or shining leaf chafers is a subfamily of the scarab beetles (family Scarabaeidae). It is a very diverse group; distributed over most of the world, it contains some 200 genera with over 4,000 described species in 7 tribes. Several taxa ...

. They are known as Christmas beetles because they are abundant in both urban and rural areas close to

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

. Christmas beetles are large (20–30 mm long) members of the scarab family that are noisy and clumsy fliers, similar to the

cockchafer The common cockchafer (''Melolontha melolontha''), also colloquially known as the Maybug, Maybeetle, or doodlebug, is a species of scarab beetle belonging to the genus '' Melolontha.'' It is native to Europe, and it is one of several closely-rel ...

s of Europe. They typically have

elytra An elytron (; ; : elytra, ) is a modified, hardened forewing of beetles (Coleoptera), though a few of the true bugs (Hemiptera) such as the family Schizopteridae are extremely similar; in true bugs, the forewings are called hemelytra (sometime ...

that are dark or light brown, or green, while some species have a green-yellow

iridescence Iridescence (also known as goniochromism) is the phenomenon of certain surfaces that appear gradually to change colour as the angle of view or the angle of illumination changes. Iridescence is caused by wave interference of light in microstru ...

. The genus includes 35 species, several of which have been implicated in dieback of

eucalypts Eucalypt is any woody plant with capsule fruiting bodies belonging to one of seven closely related genera (of the tribe Eucalypteae) found across Australia: ''Eucalyptus'', ''Corymbia'', ''Angophora'', '' Stockwellia'', ''Allosyncarpia'', '' E ...

. '' Anoplognathus pallidicollis'' is the species most commonly observed and associated with the name of Christmas beetle. However, there is a tendency for the name Christmas beetle to be used more ambiguously to refer to other metallic beetles not in this family, such as the stag beetle genus '' Lamprima''. The smaller Argentine lawn beetle, ''

Cyclocephala ''Cyclocephala'' is a genus of scarab beetles from the subfamily Dynastinae (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae). Beetles of this genus occur from southeastern Canada to Argentina, India and the West Indies. Adults of this genus are nocturnal or crepuscu ...

signaticollis'', is prevalent in December and may also be referred to as a "Christmas beetle", labelled by the Australian Museum as an "impostor".Australian Museum, Bushblitz, Mike HB Illustration. ''Xmas Beetle ID Guide'' mobile app. Vi

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Species

Anoplognathus prasinus ''Anoplognathus prasinus'', commonly known as the green Christmas beetle, is a beetle of the family Scarabaeidae native to eastern Australia. The green Christmas beetle was described by Francis de Laporte de Castelnau in 1840 as ''Paranonca pras ...

'' * '' Anoplognathus punctulatus'' * '' Anoplognathus rhinastus'' * '' Anoplognathus rothschildti'' * '' Anoplognathus rubiginosus'' * '' Anoplognathus rugosus'' * '' Anoplognathus smaragdinus'' * '' Anoplognathus suturalis'' * '' Anoplognathus velutinus'' * '' Anoplognathus viridiaeneus'' * '' Anoplognathus viriditarsis''

References

''Anoplognathus''
ANIC Specimen Database. Australian National Insect Collection, CSIRO Entomology {{Taxonbar, from=Q2852318 Scarabaeidae Beetles of Australia