Anoplognathus brunnipennis
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
Anoplognathus brunnipennis, commonly known as the brown- or golden-brown Christmas beetle, is a beetle 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.
Belgian naturalist Auguste Drapiez described the species in 1819 as Rutela chloropyra, reporting that it was found in summer in Australia. French naturalist Jean Baptiste Boisduval 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 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.
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.
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| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Blue Mountains National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sydney | 🇦🇺 Australia |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Emerald Tip Beetle sighting in Sydney on a given day, based on 5 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 666th most-seen of the 742 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Emerald Tip Beetle in Sydney on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 1 and 4 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Emerald Tip Beetle sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is seen both by day and at night.
Only Sydney, in our data
Sydney is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Emerald Tip Beetle sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same genus: Anoplognathus
The closest relatives of the Emerald Tip Beetle that you can see in Sydney (genus Anoplognathus, Christmas Beetles) are Anoplognathus olivieri (about 10%), Washerwoman (about 10%) and Campfire Beetle (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Emerald Tip Beetle is recorded against all the insects logged in Sydney (5 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
