Common Christmas Beetle vs Mottled Longhorn Beetle

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Common Christmas Beetle Mottled Longhorn Beetle
Scientific Name Anoplognathus pallidicollis Ceroplesis aethiops
Order Coleoptera Coleoptera
Family Scarabaeidae Cerambycidae
Size 20-30 mm 25-45 mm
Habitat Woodlands Underground
Diet Root Feeders Wood Feeders
Regions Australia East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Uganda)
Conservation Least Concern Least Concern

Common Christmas Beetle

A glossy golden-brown scarab beetle that swarms around lights during the Australian summer. It is the most commonly encountered Christmas beetle species.

💡

Did You Know?

Their emergence in December each year gave them the common name Christmas beetle.

Mottled Longhorn Beetle

A large longhorn beetle with mottled gray and black patterning that provides excellent camouflage on tree bark. Its antennae can be longer than its body.

💡

Did You Know?

Females chew a ring around tree branches to lay eggs, which causes the branch to die and provide ideal conditions for larval development.