Thinopinus pictus
Silhouette: PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
The pictured rove beetle (Thinopinus pictus) is a wingless rove beetle which lives on the sandy beaches of the West Coast of the United States from southern Alaska to Baja California. It is nocturnal, emerging at night from temporary sand burrows to feed on beach hoppers (Orchestoidea). It is the only species in the genus Thinopinus.
Like other rove beetles, T. pictus has shortened elytra, so that most of its abdomen is exposed. Males average 17 millimetres (0.67 in), females average 18 mm (0.71 in). Males possess a cleft in the last abdominal sternite, which makes them readily discernible from females. Their cryptic coloration varies geographically in response to lighter colored sand in the southern part of their range. Populations north of central California tend to be darker in response to the dark volcanic sand, while those in the southern range are quite pale. Because of this variation, T. pictus was once thought to be made up of two subspecies.
Thinopinus pictus inhabits the sandy intertidal zone; during the day, they hide in temporary sand burrows or under kelp and beach debris with a preference to inhabit the wettest and softest sand available... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pacific Rim National Park Reserve | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 2 | Channel Islands National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Great Bear Rainforest | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | Olympic National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Diego | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Pictured Rove Beetle sighting in Channel Islands National Park on a given day, based on 13 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 58th most-seen of the 131 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July and August
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Pictured Rove Beetle in Channel Islands National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May, September–October and December–February, the lowest months. Those are among Channel Islands National Park's driest months, with almost no rain against 60 mm in January.
Between 4 and 7 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Pictured Rove Beetle sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Pictured Rove Beetle sightings, Channel Islands National Park ranks 2nd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve (Canada, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Pictured Rove Beetle is recorded against all the insects logged in Channel Islands National Park (13 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
