The Anoplognathus species, or sometimes commonly known as Christmas beetles, are an interesting group of Australian scarabs. In the 1970s and 1980s several species of Anoplognathus were implicated in eucalypt dieback, but since that time abundance of these scarabs has dwindled. Are their numbers and distribution changing because of climate variability, agricultural practices, fire regimes, etc? No-one seems to know, but there is a very interesting research project awaiting someone! In addition to the biological questions, there is some discussion about the taxonomy of the genus, and a worthwhile project would be to develop a colour chart of the distribution and different morphology of the species for easier identification.
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