A species of beetle in Western Australia is being described as a 'misguided Romeo' for mistaking fluorescent safety equipment for a mating partner.

Wildlife experts have found the jewel beetle attempting to procreate with vehicle indicators, witches hats and safety vests at Kalbarri National Park, 600 kilometres north of Perth.

The beetles have made similar mistakes in the past; in the 1980s it is understood a brewery removed indentations on a type of beer bottle after scores of the insects mistook them for a female mate.

Behavioural ecologist Doctor Bruno Buzatto said unusual things happened when new things were introduced to the beetle's environment.

"They have been evolving for millions of years and definitely have a rule in their little brain saying what things it should look for out there to find a female," he said.

"It's just that there were never beer bottles or fluorescent vests in the wild millions of years ago.

"So all of a sudden their rules start failing."

Dr Buzatto is researching beetle reproduction at the University of Western Australia.

He said not much was known about the jewel beetle but it could have an embedded condition which gave it a very limited window to procreate, like dragonflies and butterflies.

"You can imagine that if they have this urgency for mating before they die, the first thing they find that looks like female they might invest a lot of their energy and time to try and mate with it," he said.

"And the impacts of that could be that a lot of males would die without mating because of those things introduced to the environment."

Ecologist Dr Bruno Buzatto is studying beetle reproduction at UWA. ( Supplied: Bruno Buzatto )

Dr Buzatto said, unlike humans, the beetles see ultra-violet light, which, coupled with the beetles' perception of colour, could make the fluorescent safety equipment appear similar to female beetle's back.

"[UV light sensing capability] is actually an ability that we don't have," he said.

Dr Buzatto said beetles trying to make love to fluorescent safety equipment highlighted the need for more research to better understand how the beetles see the world.

"That could be one first step to try to solve the problem," he said.

According to Dr Buzatto, incorporating a UV filter into the fluorescent vests could be a way to make the clothing less attractive to the male beetles without changing the garment too significantly for humans.

Dr Buzatto said the beetles are "tricked into thinking that something in their environment is a female" and he sympathises with them.

"People in general tend to think that insects are very simple and very small and couldn't be very smart with their tiny little brains, but often they are extremely amazing creatures and they are capable of all sorts of unthinkable things," he said.

"Perhaps if you could see ultraviolet light you would realise that the colour of the vest and the colour of the beetle stand out as being so similar, that even for us, if we could see that part of the visual spectrum, it could even trick us. Who knows?"