Lagria villosa
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~80%
Lagria villosa is a Tenebrionidae beetle of tropical and subtropical African origin which is invasive in South America. The larva as well as the adult feed off a large variety of crops, among them sorghum, ananas, bananas, coffee, potatoes, corn and peach. It also transmits several bacterial pathogens of the genera Fusarium and Pseudomonas, and is considered a significant crop pest.
The first findings outside of Africa were in Brazil (1976), and the insects are now present in large areas of Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and northern Argentina. The first recorded specimen in Europe was found in Finland in 2020, in a box of table grapes shipped from Brazil. L. villosa can be easily distinguished from all European Lagria species by two features: In L. villosa, the integuments are dark with purple-green metallic reflections; other European species have brown to black integuments. Also, the L. villosa elytra has copper and golden colors, the European's elytra is pale yellow to black-brown.
The beetles live in symbiosis with a strain of the Burkholderia gladioli bacterium, which produces a polyketide that protects the beetle's eggs against fungal and also bacterial infections. Under controlled laboratory conditions, the symbionts defend the beetle's eggs from fungal infections while present on the egg surface during vertical transmission.The substance, lagriamide, is structurally similar to bistramides like bistramide A, which have similar defensive functions in marine tunicates. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Serra dos Órgãos National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Iguazú National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 3 | Iguaçu National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 4 | Tijuca National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 5 | Addo Elephant National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 6 | Table Mountain National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Curitiba | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Santa Cruz de la Sierra | 🇧🇴 Bolivia | |
| 3 | Niterói | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 4 | Belo Horizonte | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 5 | Brasilia | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 6 | Campinas | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 7 | Cordoba | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 8 | Goiânia | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 9 | Porto Alegre | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 10 | São Paulo | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Hairy Darkling Beetle sighting in Niterói on a given day, based on 27 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 4th most-seen of the 46 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Hairy Darkling Beetle in Niterói on a given day, against under 5% in February, May, July–August and November, the lowest months. That is one of Niterói's wettest months, with about 210 mm of rain against 40 mm in August.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Hairy Darkling Beetle sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 14 cities where we can rate Hairy Darkling Beetle sightings, Niterói ranks 3rd at about 20%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Curitiba (Brazil, about 20%) and Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia, about 20%).
Same order: Coleoptera
The closest relatives of the Hairy Darkling Beetle that you can see in Niterói (order Coleoptera, Beetles) are Mecistomela marginata (about 10%), Black Coconut Bunch Weevil (about 10%) and Coelosis biloba (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Hairy Darkling Beetle is recorded against all the insects logged in Niterói (27 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.
