Dermolepida albohirtum
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
Dermolepida albohirtum, the cane beetle, is a native Australian beetle and a pest of sugarcane. Adult beetles eat the leaves of sugarcane, but greater damage is done by their larvae hatching underground and eating the roots, which either kills or stunts the growth of the plant.
The beetles can also be found in the Philippines and are known there by the local name salagubang. Adult cane beetles are white with speckles of black. Female cane beetles lay their eggs in the soil of sugarcane about 20 to 45 cm (8 to 18 in) deep, generally choosing the base of the tallest cane. A female beetle can lay up to three clutches with 20–30 eggs per clutch. Larvae, which are known as "greyback cane grubs", are small and white.
The cane beetle grub feeds on the roots of the sugarcane during all three stages of its life. The crucial stage occurs during February to May, when it aggressively feeds on the sugarcane's roots, causing the most damage to the plant. Once it is fully fed, after 3–4 months, the grub burrows down to turn into a pupa. The pupa develops into an adult within a month, but does not emerge from the soil until the weather conditions are adequate. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daintree National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
More parks will be added in future updates.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Greyback Cane Beetle sighting in Daintree National Park on a given day, based on 19 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 173rd most-seen of the 856 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October and November
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Greyback Cane Beetle in Daintree National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February to September, the lowest months. Those are among Daintree National Park's driest months, with about 60 mm of rain a month against 380 mm in January.
Between 6 and 9 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Greyback Cane 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 Daintree National Park, in our data
Daintree National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Greyback Cane Beetle sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Scarabaeidae
The closest relatives of the Greyback Cane Beetle that you can see in Daintree National Park (family Scarabaeidae, Scarabs) are Australian Rhinoceros Beetle (about 30%), Anoplognathus punctulatus (about 10%) and Ischiopsopha wallacei (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Greyback Cane Beetle is recorded against all the insects logged in Daintree National Park (19 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.
