''Anoplognathus brunnipennis'', commonly known as the brown- or golden-brown Christmas beetle, is a

beetle Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

of the family

Scarabaeidae The family Scarabaeidae, as currently defined, consists of over 35,000 species of beetles worldwide; they are often called scarabs or scarab beetles. The classification of this family has undergone significant change. Several groups formerly tre ...

native to eastern Australia, being common in coastal Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, the Great Dividing Range and the Murray-Darling river basin.

History

Belgian naturalist

Auguste Drapiez Pierre Auguste Joseph Drapiez (28 August 1778, Lille – 28 December 1856, Brussels) was a Belgian naturalist. He founded with the French botanist Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent (1778–1846) and the Belgian chemist Jean-Baptiste Van Mons ...

described the species in 1819 as ''Rutela chloropyra'', reporting that it was found in summer in Australia. French naturalist

Jean Baptiste Boisduval Jean Baptiste Alphonse Déchauffour de Boisduval (24 June 1799 – 30 December 1879) was a French lepidopterist, botanist, and physician. He was one of the most celebrated lepidopterists of France, and was the co-founder of the Société ento ...

described ''Anoplognathus nitidulus'' in 1835. The latter name was recognized as the same species as the former and hence made a synonym by

William John Macleay Sir William John Macleay (13 June 1820 – 7 December 1891) was a Scottish-Australian politician, naturalist, zoologist, and herpetologist. Early life Macleay was born at Wick, Caithness, Scotland, second son of Kenneth Macleay of Keiss and h ...

in 1873. The species name was misspelt ''chloropygus'' by Ohaus in a 1918 catalogue and picked up by many authors. A 2021 review indicated that the species was misidentified as ''Anoplognathus chloropygus'', and thus made a synonym of ''Anoplognathus brunnipennis''.

Description

As its name suggests, the golden-brown Christmas beetle is a yellow- or biscuit-brown with a green or gold-red sheen. The abdomen and thorax are green with white hairs. The adult male is 19–23 mm long, while the female is 21–26 mm long.

Feeding and relationship with humans

Like many of its relatives, the brown Christmas beetle has large strong jaws capable of chewing tough eucalypt leaves to the point of defoliating stands of trees, which can impact plantations. It is an economically important pest of eucalypt plantations in Victoria, and New South Wales. In particular it feeds on Tasmanian blue gum (''

Eucalyptus globulus ''Eucalyptus globulus'', commonly known as southern blue gum or blue gum, is a species of flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae. It is a tall, evergreen tree Endemism, endemic to southeastern Australia. This ''Eucalyptus'' species has most ...

''), manna gum ('' E. viminalis''), shining gum ('' E. nitens''), flooded gum ('' E. grandis''), white gum ('' E. dunnii''), mountain white gum ('' E. dalrympleana'') and broad-leaved peppermint ('' E. dives''). It rarely eats Sydney blue gum ('' E. saligna''), and ignores blackbutt ('' E. pilularis''). Fieldwork in Coffs Harbour showed that brown Christmas beetle generally fed on leaves of intermediate age, avoiding new growth and old leaves, and trees of 2.5 m height and taller. Clones of ''E. grandis'' have been selected and bred on the basis of unpalatability to this species to minimise damage to plantations.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q14903437, from2=Q2852316 Scarabaeidae Beetles described in 1819 Beetles of Australia