Bug Wiki
Sticker of Christmas beetle
Bug card No. 0270 of 1,500

Christmas beetle

Anoplognathus
Eats: PlantsBeetlesGardens and meadows6 legs

Christmas beetles are big, chunky beetles from Australia. They are brown or green, and some shine with a golden green glow. They get their name because lots of them show up around Christmas time.

Lives in
Australia, in towns and in the countryside
Length
2 to 3 cm (0.79 to 1.2 in)
Top speed
about 0.71 km/h (0.44 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It may bump into you because it is a clumsy flier, but it does not sting.
What does it eat?
It munches on leaves, especially the leaves of gum trees.
For real!Photo of Christmas beetle
Picture by Cyron Ray Macey from Brisbane (-27.470963,153.026505), Australia. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Christmas beetle about 3 cm long (1.2 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)
as long as 5 grains of rice in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 5.1 seconds

How big is Christmas beetle compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

They are noisy and clumsy fliers that often crash into things.

2

There are about 35 different kinds of Christmas beetles.

3

When there are very many of them, they can eat so many leaves that gum trees get sick.

4

In Australia, Christmas is in summer, which is exactly when these beetles come out.

you asked

Most asked questions about Christmas beetle

?Why is it called a Christmas beetle?

Because lots of them appear around Christmas, which is summer time in Australia.

?Are Christmas beetles dangerous?

No. They do not bite or sting people, they are just a bit clumsy when they fly.

?How big is a Christmas beetle?

About 2 to 3 centimetres long.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Anoplognathus
Group
Beetles
Family
Scarabaeidae
Classification
Insecta > Coleoptera > Scarabaeidae
Lives on
Australia and Oceania

Where the facts come from

  1. Christmas beetle (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Cyron Ray Macey from Brisbane (-27.470963,153.026505), Australia. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.

More from the same group: Beetles

Also at home here: Gardens and meadows