Thursday, May 22, 2014

What is a Christmas beetle?

How your etymology and entomology can be confused, depending on where you live.

Confusion in South African English: A Christmas beetle in Gauteng is seen but not heard. A Christmas beetle in KZN is heard but not seen.

Flying peanuts, Christmas beetles, leaf chafers, May beetles / Melolonthinae (Invertebrates) by tony rebelo on 13th January 2012 | iSpot:

which Xmas Beetle? The Cicada, this chappie or something else (the Red Driver Ant, for instance) - Just google "Christmas Beetle South Africa" to get a taste of the discussion and see answerit.news24.com/Question/Are there still Christmas Beetles in South Africa? for an overview of how people dont even talk about the same thing.
My wife insists that what I call a Christmas beetle is a "hardie", but we both agree on the singing of Christmas beetles at Christmas time. We were both born in Durban, but I moved to the Transvaal at the age of seven, and so learnt some Valie ways. I know that the Christmas beetles you hear are really cicadas, but are rarely seen, and when seen they're green. But the Christmas beetles that you see are brown...

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