Researchers from the University of Sydney suspect that the iconic Australian Christmas beetle is in decline and are imploring Aussies to assist scientists in a country-wide beetle population count.
In an email to The Epoch Times, Assoc. Prof. Tanya Latty, from Sydney University, said that it’s not known for sure that Christmas beetles have declined, as long-term population data isn’t possessed.
But, Latty said that most Australians over the age of 30 seem to have strong memories of huge numbers of Christmas beetles arriving around Christmas each year, and that doesn’t appear to happen anymore.
“The problem is that there are 36 species of Christmas beetle in Australia, and we do not know which ones (if any) have declined,” she said….