Adult: Male: 30-35mm. Female: 45mm.

Order Coleoptera/ Family Scarabaeidae/ Subfamily Pleocominae - Rain Beetles

A resident species of Torrey Pines State Reserve and generally distributed throughout the coastal North County. The male Black Rain Beetle has a patent leather look to it with dense black hair ventrally. The females, not pictured, are dark chestnut brown and considerably larger than their mates, with a high, ball-like appearance and venter with yellowish hair. With the first fall and or winter rains the flightless female, which stays in her burrow, wafts the air with her irresistible scent and awaits the arrival of the males. With powerful legs and a scoop-like clypeus, the front edge of the head, she can excavate an elaborate tunnel in even fairly compacted soil. As adults the rain beetles do not apparently feed and are probably short-lived. The larvae feed on the roots various shrubs and conifers, taking eight to twelve years to reach maturity. (Western Forest Insects, Furniss and Carolin, 1980). The specimen on this page was found in a spider web.