''Anoplognathus brunnipennis'', commonly known as the brown- or golden-brown Christmas beetle, is a
beetle
Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...
of the family
Scarabaeidae 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 entomol ...
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, Natural history, naturalist, zoologist, and Herpetology, herpetologist.
Early life
Macleay was born at Wick, Highland, Wick, Caithness, Scotland, ...
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''), manna gum ('' E. viminalis''), shining gum ('' E. nitens''), flooded gum ('' E. grandis''),]
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2852316
Scarabaeidae
Beetles described in 1819
Beetles of Australia