ABC Insect of the Year

I am delighted to once again be on the insect expert panel for ABC Australia’s Insect of the Year.

Of course, I am sworn to secrecy as to which species I am choosing this year, but rest assured it will be an absolutely stunning insect!

This is the third year for this great initiative, which was devised by ABC’s Gavin McGrath as a way to get the Australian public thinking and talking more about insects.

The finalists for the first year of the contest, in 2024, were the Golden Stag Beetle (Lamprima aurata), Blue-banded Bee (Amegilla spp.), Eltham Copper Butterfly (Paralucia pyrodiscus lucida), Bogong Moth (Agrotis infusa), Common Hoverfly (Melangyna viridiceps) and Lord Howe Island Stick Insect (Dryococelus australis).

My selection was the Common Hoverfly [the Blue-banded Bee had already been nominated by Dr Anna Currucan]

A total of 13,593 people voted in the inaugural ABC Insect of the Year poll, and the winner was (of course) the Blue-banded Bee, getting a whopping 50.14% of the votes, while my Common Hoverfly came an admirable second, with 12.98% of the votes. I like to think that my picture of the Blue-banded Bee helped it get over the line, but we all know that it didn’t really need my help.

You can read more about the other 2024 placings here.

When the competition returned for its second year in 2025, it was to be bigger and better than the year before, so I was scratching my head for which Aussie insect species could take out the title that year. I settled on one of Australia’s most iconic species - the Christmas Beetle. The only problem was, ‘the’ Christmas Beetle’ isn’t a species, it is a group of around 35 beetles that people collectively refer to as Christmas Beetles, so I had to pick one of them, and that was going to be tough. But I plonked for the Duck-billed (Christmas) Beetle.

The full list of nominations for 2025 were:

• Bird Dropping Beetle (Exastra albopilosa)

• Duck-billed Christmas Beetle (Anoplognathus montanus)

• Giant Rainforest Mantis (Heirodula majuscula)

• Graphic Flutterer Dragonfly (Rhyothemis graphiptera)

• Greengrocer Cicada (Cyclochila australiasiae)

• Mountain Katydid (Acripeza reticulata)

Public interest had grown markedly since the first year, and the social media campaigns, radio interviews, and magazine articles came thick and fast. I was very confident; everybody loves Christmas Beetles - right?

Apparently not!

Nearly 24,000 people voted this year (10,000 more than 2024) and, while it was a closer contest, the Graphic Flutterer Dragonfly came out on top (25.66%), with the Greengrocer Cicada second (18.74%), and my Duck-billed Christmas Beetle came third with 15.99% of the votes. (The final wrap up can be viewed here)

Ironically, for the second year running, my image had been used for the winning species…

So, here we are again, and I’m hoping to reverse my downhill slide. But will it be good enough to be crowned Australia’s champion? Time will tell!

The six nominations will be announced at the Insect Expo in Woodend, Victoria in October, and I will be on table 38 at the Insect Expo with plenty of insect-related items at my exhibitor stall. There might be some book giveaways on the day as well (they are giveaways - not bribes!)

There will be around eighty exhibitors there at the expo, including Gavin McGrath (and the rest of the wonderful ABC team), Invertebrates Australia, Zoos Victoria, the National Institue of Entomology, and many more.