Hairy Christmas beetle

Anoplognathus velutinus

Anoplognathus velutinus is a large scarabid beetle found in south eastern Australia.
It is distinctive due to it's covering of white setae.
This group are known as 'Christmas beetles' locally as they appear around late December each year.
Hairy Christmas beetle (Anoplognathus velutinus) A larger and more girthsome scarab type with all parts covered on white setae which seems to be growing in clumps of up to 3 from individual pits which covered the elytra. Also different by a dark spots on each wing cover. Longer white setae showing from below thorax and abdomen. Attracted to night lighting at the local school. Certainly different to the usual smooth 'Christmas beetles' Thanks Stephen Thorpe for ID. Anoplognathus velutinus,Australia,Christmas beetle,Geotagged,Hairy Christmas beetle,Rutelinae,Scarab,Scarabaeidae,Spring

Appearance

About 25mm long they are pale pink to tan, black legs, and a sparse covering of white setae.
Anoplognathus velutinus Anoplognathus velutinus,Australia,Geotagged,Hairy Christmas beetle,Spring

Distribution

In Australia from Brisbane south to Melbourne and west to Adelaide.

Cultural

One of many species of scarab in Australia commonly called Christmas beetle.

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

http://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:biodiversity.org.au:afd.taxon:96a97439-6eb6-44c3-966c-17f607ad504d#
http://eol.org/pages/3257847/overview
Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionArthropoda
ClassInsecta
OrderColeoptera
FamilyScarabaeidae
GenusAnoplognathus
SpeciesAnoplognathus velutinus
Photographed in
Australia