Look at those antennae!
Like so many things, when you learn a new species you start
seeing it everywhere. Were they there all along? Or did I just notice them
because they had a population explosion? My first thought is that the former seems more likely.
I don't mind seeing bee-like flower beetles everywhere. They
are neat little critters, with fuzzy, clumsy little bodies and delicate
fan-like ("lamellate") antennae. Lamellate antennae are typical of the scarab beetle family,
of which there are more than 30,000 species.
"Hey baby, wassuuuppp"
Beetles and other bugs use their antennae for smell. They were all over the cactus blossoms.
Glancing into a flower, you'd see a couple bee-like flower scarabs tumbling and
rooting around. Are they gregarious? Were they mating? Or are they just that common?
After doing a little research, it looks like all of the
above are accurate. Some beetles
are only active in their adult forms for a few weeks, so the clock is ticking
with regards to mating and eating. All the adults emerge at once, so they go
from absent to super-abundant.
After mating, the female will lay her eggs in rotting plant
matter and then die. The larvae
will feed on decaying deciduous trees and graminoid roots for 3 or 4 years
before emerging as adults, and re-starting the cycle. Because these creatures spend most of
their lifecycle out-of-sight underground, and then suddenly flushing for a few
weeks in spring, they are both rare and ubiquitous, everywhere and scarce,
depending on the season. It is amazing that, if I hadn't been looking when I
was, I could go an entire 11 months without seeing one of these beetles.
Mating...?
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