Christmas beetle is a name commonly applied to the Australian beetle genus Anoplognathus. They are known as Christmas beetles because they are abundant in both urban and rural areas close to Christmas.

The genus includes 35 species, several of which have been implicated in dieback of eucalypts. Anoplognathus pallidicollis is the species most commonly observed and associated with the name of Christmas beetle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_beetle

In the name of job creation and clean energy, the Obama administration has doled out billions of dollars in stimulus money to some of the nation's biggest polluters and granted them sweeping exemptions from the most basic form of environmental oversight, a Center for Public Integrity investigation has found.

The administration has awarded more than 179,000 "categorical exclusions" to stimulus projects funded by federal agencies, freeing those projects from review under the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA. Coal-burning utilities like Westar Energy and Duke Energy, chemical manufacturer DuPont, and ethanol maker Didion Milling are among the firms with histories of serious environmental violations that have won blanket NEPA exemptions.

Even a project at BP's maligned refinery in Texas City, Tex. - owner of the oil industry's worst safety record and site of a deadly 2005 explosion, as well as a benzene leak earlier this year - secured a waiver for the preliminary phase of a carbon capture and sequestration experiment involving two companies with past compliance problems. The primary firm has since dropped out of the project before it could advance to the second phase.

Agency officials who granted the exemptions told the Center that they do not have time in most cases to review the environmental compliance records of stimulus recipients, and do not believe past violations should affect polluters' chances of winning stimulus money or the NEPA exclusions.

Comments for Big Polluters Freed From Environmental Oversight by Stimulus

A global crash in insect populations has found its way to Australia, with entomologists across the country reporting lower than average numbers of wild insects.

University of Sydney entomologist Dr Cameron Webb said researchers around the world widely acknowledge that insect populations are in decline, but are at a loss to determine the cause.

"On one hand it might be the widespread use of insecticides, on the other hand it might be urbanisation and the fact that we're eliminating some of the plants where it's really critical that these insects complete their development," Dr Webb said.

"Add in to the mix climate change and sea level rise and it's incredibly difficult to predict exactly what it is."

Entomologist and owner of the Australian Insect Farm, near Innisfail in far north Queensland, Jack Hasenpusch is usually able to collect swarms of wild insects at this time of year.

"I've been wondering for the last few years why some of the insects have been dropping off and put it down to lack of rainfall," Mr Hasenpusch said.

Read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-24/decline-in-insect-population-baffl...

If I may say, let me say that the global crash in insect populations is due to several factors. As mentioned before, most extinction or decline is due to the COMBINATION of these factors which stress the population beyond sustainability. 

INSECTICIDES are a major factor in this decline. We use insecticides of various poisoning strength to get rid of insects in our homes and our crops. The way we do this is often by spraying and the cloud of particles will float into gardens and natural habitats. 

Resistant insects or less affected insect population would have declined significantly under such "stress".

A lot of animals, from birds to some mammals are INSECTIVORES. Still needing to feed at the same rate than before, insectivores will decimate the already diminished populations of the insects.

GLOBAL WARMING is changing plant cycles. Some insect species will survive better or even thrive better than others under the new conditions, while others have adaptation issues. With the lack of insects, spiders become under stress as well because, unlike fishermen whose fishing grounds have been depleted, they cannot move anywhere else for their catch — a catch which is based on accidental luck of the abundance of insects. 

There could be other factors, including opportunistic bacteria and diseases. But for decline to become serious, one major factor plus one other will do enough damage. See also: 

http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/9177