Christmas Beetle Count's Journal

Hello everyone,
If you would like to learn more about Christmas beetles and the Christmas Beetle project, we will be holding a Webinar on Wednesday , 23 November at 6:00 (AEDT)

Register your interest here: bit.ly/XmasBeetleProject

Hi everyone,
Thanks to everyone who has joined the project- we've had a huge growth in numbers over the last week.

I'm very excited to share our 'sighting of the week': the absolutely gorgeous Anoplognathus multiseriatus
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1294859-Anoplognathus-multiseriatus

Prior to this project, the last sightings of A. multiseriatus were in the late 1970's. We've now recorded sightings from three separate observers this year. We have consulted with our collaborators at the Australian Museum and confirmed that the identifications are correct. This is exactly the kind of data we hoped to get from the project.

So what does this new sighting mean? We're not sure yet. It may be that A. multiseriatus is relatively common and simply hasn't been formally collected in the last few decades. It's also possible that the species has declined, but is still around in small pockets of natural bushland (all three sightings are from a small geographical area). More data is needed before we can start to make conclusions. Nevertheless, this is hugely exciting and shows the power of community science!

Happy beetle hunting everyone!!