Beetle ID?

[Catherine Otto]

Greetings,

Today on a hike in the forest near the Lewisburg Saddle a friend and I saw this beetle flying slowly like a bumblebee in among the ferns and brambles. It landed long enough for a few photos.

I looked up bumblebee scarabs and found some similar ones, but not this exact one
. Any ideas on the exact ID of this beetle? It’s quite striking really-so dark and shiny with what so interestingly looks like fur all around the edges of its body.

Happy fall exploring!

Catherine Otto
Corvallis

[Karan Fairchild]

It is a rain beetle- genus Pleocoma, not sure of the species. They're very cool!

Karan Fairchild

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[Marge Alig]

They ARE very cool! Lucky you.   Interesting life histories. 

Nice little Oregon Field Guide piece on them here. 

https://watch.opb.org/video/rain-beetles-north-fork-smith-river-oil-art-wheat-farming-w9p0u6/

On Nov 3, 2022, at 7:33 PM, Karan Fairchild <alde...@peak.org> wrote:

It is a rain beetle- genus Pleocoma, not sure of the species.  They're very cool!

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mid-valley-nature/722992933.2460337.1667529202398.JavaMail.zimbra%40peak.org.

[Randy and Pamela Comeleo]

Here is an older episode of Oregon Field Guide from way back in 2001 with a piece on rain beetles starring some folks that may look very familiar. It's the 3rd segment.

OREGON FIELD GUIDE

Season 12 Episode 4 | 28m 52s

Wildlife experts check in on nesting peregrine falcons in the city and the woods. Join host Steve Amen and family in their effort to find the ultimate camping experience. An in-depth look at one of our oldest insects and their brief, but very active life cycle.

Aired: 02/01/01

https://video.pbsutah.org/video/season-12-episode-4-7koeyt/

Our dog Luna has amazing rain beetle detection skills. She tracks them down by some olfactory means and locates them underground. Unfortunately for the beetles, she finds them to be a gustatory delight! We do our best to discourage her beetle-icide tendencies but it does make me curious about what other wild animals, besides Luna, eat these fuzzy little fat packets

.-Pam

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From: "Marge Alig" <mvict...@gmail.com>
To: "Jim and Karan Fairchild" <alde...@peak.org>
Cc: "Catherine Otto" <catheri...@comcast.net>, "mid-valley-nature" <mid-vall...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, November 3, 2022 9:19:45 PM
Subject: Re: [MidValleyNature:6779] Beetle ID?

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[Lisa Millbank]

We found this old deposit of several predator scats, one of which was entirely composed of chewed-up rain beetle wing covers.  This was on a road in McDonald Forest in January.  The scat had been rained on a long time, so everything else had washed away, yet the wing covers were quite durable.  On the left is the washed-out remains of a scat filled with soft fur, such as from rodents.  It's not uncommon to see several bobcat scats of various ages deposited next to one another, but in this case I thought a coyote was also a possibility.  Anyway, there was no way to know who had feasted on these delicious bug nuggets, but clearly there were enough at the time to fill someone's belly.

Lisa Millbank

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[Mary Garrard]

Thanks everyone for these most interesting photos and OFG episodes.

Mary

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[Nancy Betty Baumeister]

That was neat! 

Nancy (Betty) Bee

 Blog: https://nancybird375.wordpress.com/

"A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving." -Lao Tzu

On Nov 3, 2022, at 11:32 PM, Randy and Pamela Comeleo <rott...@peak.org> wrote:



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[Catherine Otto]

Thanks to all for the great info and conversation about rain beetles! I really appreciate it! I am planning on watching the Oregon Field Guide episodes soon as well. I will be even more on the lookout for rain beetles on my walks in the forest in this lovely moist season.

Best wishes to all!

Catherine 

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