We would like to celebrate our gorgeous Christmas Beetles! There are 35 species of Christmas Beetle which are endemic to Australia – this means that they are found nowhere else in the world. 21 of those species are found in NSW.

Image Credit: Khadijah Saad

These beetles are found in southern and eastern Australia and belong to the Scarab family of beetles.  These beetles are called Christmas Beetles because the adults emerge close to the Christmas period – but they are also vibrantly coloured, just like a Christmas tree bauble.

Christmas Beetles begin their lifecycle as eggs, which hatch into larvae, also known as grubs. The larvae of the Christmas Beetle grow quite large and stay in the soil for between one and two years. When it is ready, the larva creates a pupa, where it will undergo what is called metamorphosis – this is where the larva turns into an adult. This the same process as when caterpillars turn into butterflies.

The adult Christmas Beetles feed on eucalyptus trees. Christmas Beetles are an important food source for other birds and mammals, because they emerge right when many animals are raising their young.

In recent years, people have noticed a decline in numbers of the beetles. This decline might be due to drought and urban development that affects their food source and degrades their habitat. Invertebrates Australia has teamed up with the University of Sydney and Australian Museum and the Australian Museum to monitor Christmas Beetle numbers. It is known as the “Christmas Beetle Count Project” to see if numbers are really declining, and by how much.

Their project aims to:

1. Understand the current distribution of Christmas Beetles through observations.
2. Compare the current distribution to historic records to determine if there is a decline.
3. If there is evidence of decline, identify its potential causes.

How can we participate?

If you see a what you think is a Christmas Beetle, take a picture and upload it on iNaturalist. Invertebrates Australia recommends taking four pictures, one of the back, one of the belly, one from the front (of the face) and one from the back (of its rear end!)

Upload your photos to iNaturalist (you will need an account to do this, so if you are a child, get an adult member of the family to assist you with this.  When uploading the photos, make sure that you change the Geoprivacy/Location setting from ‘open’ to ‘obscured’. This means that iNaturalist will randomly relocate your sighting a short distance away, rather than giving your exact location. This is an important privacy measure if you are uploading photos of all the great things you find in your back yard.

Once your photos have been uploaded, scientists who look at them will identify them for you and they might even use them for their research.

To learn more about Christmas Beetles and the Christmas Beetle Count, head over to Invertebrates Australia, where there are videos and fact sheets.

If you want to get technical, here are some more advanced identification guides:

The Australian Museum – Identifying Christmas Beetles

Lucid Central – Christmas Beetle – Key