Micromalthus debilis
In 3 days ~10%
The telephone-pole beetle (Micromalthus debilis) is a beetle native to the eastern United States and the only known living representative of the otherwise extinct family Micromalthidae. Larvae of the beetle live in decaying wood and can be pests to wooden structures, lending them their common name, the 'telephone-pole beetle.'
The larvae of Micromalthus debilis start as tiny white creatures with well-developed legs, resembling carabid larvae. Larvae bore into moist, decaying chestnut and oak logs, creating galleries as they consume wood fibers. Adult beetles are dark brown to blackish with vestigial reproductive organs. Micromalthus's evolutionary history dates back millions of years, with fossil records found in various ambers. Their larvae infest timber, weakening structures and attracting fungi, as seen in South African gold mines in the 1930s.
The telephone-pole beetle used to have reproducing adults, but has evolved to become obligately paedogenetic, having asexually reproducing (parthenogenetic) female larvae and sterile adults that occasionally develop from the juveniles. The rare adult is sometimes referred to as a 'ghost adult' due to its vestigial existence. When a substantial number of adults are generated at once in laboratory experiments, they exhibit vestigial mating behavior, including sex-role reversal, with females exhibiting more aggression and competition for mates. Being one of few parthenogenetic haplodiploid species, the telephone-pole beetle is an interesting subject of coleopteran reproductive behavior and physiology. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Miami | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Telephone-Pole Beetle sighting in Miami on a given day, based on 7 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 752nd most-seen of the 826 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Telephone-Pole Beetle in Miami on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Only Miami, in our data
Miami is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Telephone-Pole Beetle sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same order: Coleoptera
The closest relatives of the Telephone-Pole Beetle that you can see in Miami (order Coleoptera, Beetles) are Asian Lady Beetle (about 20%), Sri Lanka Weevil (about 20%) and Dark Flower Scarab (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Telephone-Pole Beetle is recorded against all the insects logged in Miami (7 verified sightings), 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.
