Two species of Christmas beetle (Anoplognathus montanus Macleay and A. pallidicollis Blanchard (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)) are recorded feeding upon an exotic plant species (Schinus molle) belonging to a plant family (Anacardiaceae) different from their preferred hosts (species of Eucalyptus (Myrtaceae)). The presence of similar monoterpenes in both S. molle and Eucalyptus might explain why Christmas beetles exhibit aberrant feeding on the former species. Preferential selection by the beetles for S. molle over neighbouring potential eucalypt hosts could be related to the absence in S. molle of 1,8-cineole, a monoterpene found in high concentrations in eucalypts that are resistant to Christmas beetles, combined with the presence of attractant monoterpenes.
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Steinbauer et al. (2002) studied this question.
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