bugs page!! its a page of bugs!!

here is where i plan to post pictures of bugs I've personally seen. expect them to sometimes be blurry, and sometimes be cradled in my dirty hands (i work with the dirt, so i rarely have clean hands when a bug arises)

One of my favourite beetles to see around Christmas, the family is just known as Christmas beetles (Anoplognathus sp.) and there are about 34 different species. They look like tiny flying baubles, and come in reds, greens and golds.

This species is the duckbilled beetle (Anoplognathus montanus, and one of the only Christmas beetles I saw this year. Unfortnately, they are thought to be in decline due to pesticide use, especially offtarget spraying to kill African Lawn Beetle grubs that doesn't discriminate between beetle grub species at all. My local Invertebrate society implemented the Christmas Beetle Count with iNaturalist this summer in hopes of getting an accurate read of what species are where, and how many.