Telephone-pole beetle

Telephone-pole beetle
Temporal range: Miocene–Present
"Ghost adult" stage
Larval stage
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Micromalthidae
Genus: Micromalthus
LeConte, 1878
Species:
M. debilis
Binomial name
Micromalthus debilis
LeConte, 1878
Other species
  • Micromalthus eocenicus Kirejtshuk, Nel & Collomb, 2010
  • Micromalthus priabonicus Perkovsky, 2016
Synonyms[1]

Micromalthus anansi Perkovsky, 2008

The telephone-pole beetle (Micromalthus debilis) is a beetle native to the eastern United States and the only known living representative of the otherwise extinct family Micromalthidae. Larvae of the beetle live in decaying wood and can be pests to wooden structures, lending them their common name, the 'telephone-pole beetle.'

The larvae of Micromalthus debilis start as tiny white creatures with well-developed legs, resembling carabid larvae. Larvae bore into moist, decaying chestnut and oak logs, creating galleries as they consume wood fibers. Adult beetles are dark brown to blackish with vestigial reproductive organs. Mating behavior includes sex-role reversal, with females exhibiting more aggression and competition for mates. Micromalthus's evolutionary history dates back millions of years, with fossil records found in various ambers. Their larvae infest timber, weakening structures and attracting fungi, as seen in South African gold mines in the 1930s.

The telephone-pole beetle used to have reproducing adults, but has evolved to become obligately paedogenetic. The rare adult is sometimes referred to as a 'ghost adult' due to its vestigial existence. They have an unusual reproductive system involving asexually reproducing (parthenogenetic) female larvae. Being one of few parthenogenetic haplodiploid species, the telephone-pole beetle is an interesting subject of coleopteran reproductive behavior and physiology.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference HornschemeyerWedmannPoinar2010 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).