#scarabaeidae

quilt beetle

Glorious Jewel Scarab (Chrysina gloriosa), family Scarabaeidae, Sedona, AZ, USA

Christmas beetles in the genus Anoplognathus, Scarabaeidae

All found in Australia

i admit that when i saw this big stump i involuntarily thought to myself "maybe there'll be rhino beetles on it", but i didn't expect to actually find this Oryctes nasicornis casually pacing around

unfortunately despite being a large animal seemingly made of rigid plastic he was apparently flexible enough to immediately wedge himself in a crack and disappear inside the stump to get away from me. bye i guess

Cicadas are famous for their long dormancy periods, but they're not the only ones to take their time growing! Common cockchafers, or maybeetles, operate on a similar cycle; larvae take 3-5 years to become fully mature, so populations in different regions will emerge in different years. The species also has a longer boom and bust cycle, so once every 30 years or so their numbers explode; in some places there can be almost 1,000,000 adults per square kilometer!