Video Beetles Fight Frenzy Or Very Frisky Love Bugs Crazy Scary Nature Caught On Tape

This year at home there has been very few giant spiders but loads of Cicada's and Christmas beetles. When children grow up in Australia they are taught that these brown summer holiday beetles are spies for Santa Claus! Those little brown beetles SEE EVERYTHING. This year on one of the wire doors at night an infestation (or swarm) of Christmas beetles started to gather and do some crazy stuff. Are they fighting or re-producing, it's very difficult to know because nature can be very crazy at times.

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.

Christmas beetles pupate from late spring to early summer in a chamber near the soil surface. Emergence is often triggered by rain which moistens the soil enough for fully developed beetles to dig there way to the surface. During dry conditions, Christmas beetles may remain inactive in the pupal chamber for a few weeks. In very dry conditions adults can perish in the soil waiting for suitable rains. Winter rains enhance larval survival and after spring rains or thunderstorms mass emergence can often occur as the ground becomes moist enough for adults to emerge.

Christmas beetles are voracious eaters and are capable of attacking a wide range of eucalypts and other tree species. Adult Christmas beetles make zigzag cuts to leaves as they feed, shredding leaves with much leaf material wasted and falling to the ground.
Trees can be defoliated in a very short time, particularly by beetles feeding in swarms.
Swarms can often occur in waves from late spring to early summer, depending on favourable weather conditions. Christmas beetles often show a preference for particular species, even individual trees within a species. Repeated defoliations over several seasons may lead to dieback over vast areas of eucalyptus woodlands and can even kill mature trees. The Christmas beetle larvae feed underground on organic matter such as roots and grasses, causing little damage.

Sorry for the Beatles and Austin Powers jokes, I could not help myself.

Web Links ;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_beetle
http://www.csiro.au/Outcomes/Food-and-Agriculture/ChristmasBeetles.aspx