Eleodes osculans
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Eleodes osculans, the wooly darkling beetle or woolly ground beetle, is a common insect in coastal southern and central California in wooded areas or chaparral, and in Baja California. As a stink beetle of genus Eleodes, its easily observed defensive posture is to raise its hind end and secrete an unpleasant odor. E. osculans has a length of 12–16 mm and is the only known darkling beetle species with reddish-brown hair covering most of its black exoskeleton. It is similar to Eleodes nigropilosa and Eleodes littoralis, which have darker hair. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Channel Islands National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Los Angeles | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | San Diego | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Woolly Darkling Beetle sighting in Channel Islands National Park on a given day, based on 9 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 77th 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 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Woolly Darkling Beetle in Channel Islands National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April, July and September–February, the lowest months. That is one of Channel Islands National Park's driest months, with almost no rain against 60 mm in January.
Between 7 and 10 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Woolly Darkling Beetle sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is mostly seen at night.
Only Channel Islands National Park, in our data
Channel Islands National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Woolly Darkling Beetle sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same genus: Eleodes
The closest relatives of the Woolly Darkling Beetle that you can see in Channel Islands National Park (genus Eleodes, Desert Stink Beetles) are Eleodes acuticauda (about 10%), Island Darkling Beetle (about 10%) and Dentate Stink Beetle (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Woolly Darkling Beetle is recorded against all the insects logged in Channel Islands National Park (9 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.
