Nod and Smile

5 responses so far ↓

• 1 Jangari // Jun 11, 2008 at 7:56 pm

  This is a type of Christmas Beetle. They come out at the start of summer and fly awkwardly around flourescent lights, slamming into walls, ceilings and windows. We used to enjoy playing with them as kids as they’re totally harmless, and I still can’t bare to kill one.

  Odd though, they’re meant to be native to Australia, I wonder how it got there?

  ‘Christmas Beetle’ is a bit of an antipodism, isn’t it? The only one I’ve heard so far. Podisms are more common, like March flies, which come out in September here.

• 2 Jangari // Jun 12, 2008 at 2:49 am

  Gah, fluorescent*.

• 3 jeanerz // Jun 12, 2008 at 7:39 am

  After some internet searching, my friend thinks it might have been a Unicorn Beetle. According to Wikipedia, it is a type of Rhinocerous Beetle found in the Southern US (My friend lives in Atlanta, GA).

• 4 jeanerz // Jun 12, 2008 at 7:59 am

  The nose/snout was a distinctive (and scary!) feature of this creature. See his twin brother here. As menacing as he looks, apparently he only eats tree sap.

• 5 Jangari // Jun 12, 2008 at 7:29 pm

  That probably makes more geographic sense. But it seriously looks like a Christmas Beetle.There are dozens of varieties, different colours, sizes, the best ones are about an inch long, and have black metallic shells that have that multicoloured pearled effect.

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