Turn on the verandah lights of an evening and there’s every chance you will be swamped by one of some 34 varieties that inhabit southern and eastern Australia.

Indeed, the next time you walk down the street any number of the Scarabaeidae family can be found squashed on the footpath.

Local ecologist Ray Mjadwesch told the Western Advocate yesterday it’s really not surprising for the beetles to be so common in the region.

“It is Christmas after all. That’s why they’re called Christmas beetles,” he said.

“They just love the new growth on the tips of eucalyptus trees, especially after rain.

“I wouldn’t say there’s masses of them around at the moment, not at this stage anyway. However, they might be building up. Midsummer is when their numbers are at their greatest.”

Christmas beetles have a seasonal life cycle and from December to January they mate and lay eggs into the soil’s surface.

At times they can swarm and defoliate trees in a very short period of time.

Mr Mjadwesch said rain helps soften the earth and the Christmas beetles detect the change in moisture levels which makes it easier for them to dig their way out.

He said they generally emerge in the late afternoon and can fly several kilometres.

The beetles are often attracted to outdoor lighting.

“In Bathurst people will notice them banging into the street lights,” he said.

“I’ve noticed them down in lower Keppel Street lately. Really, I don’t know they don’t try to fly to the moon.”

Mr Mjadwesch said the beetles were spiky to handle.

“It can give the kids a scare when they pick them up because they are spiky to handle,” he said. “They won’t bite, they just try to dig their way out between their fingers.”

Adult Christmas beetles are usually between 2-3cm long, have small clubbed antennae and spiky legs. They range in colour from brown to green and iridescent green.