One of the perpetual mysteries of life which is occasionally discussed over a cup of coffee on cold mornings is “how do the bugs survive in the frigid weather?” The truth is most do not, a vast majority living only a year or some seasonal fraction of it.
Many human residents take pleasure, some sadistically, at the thought of the elements exacting revenge for all the destructive transgressions committed by offending arthropods. While the low temperatures do not kill them all, it certainly thins out the herd.
However, as in Aesop’s fable of the ant and the grasshopper, some are prepared to persist through the frost, freezes and rare snow in north Florida. One such hardy species is a beetle known scientifically as Odontotaenius disjunctus.
Commonly known as a Bess bug, the Jerusalem beetle or the patent-leather beetle, it is a member of the superfamily Scarabaeoidea which has only a few members found within the United States.
Patent-leather beetles spend their lives insulated in logs where they use the dead wood as shelter and food.
Its wide range of home territory from Florida to Minnesota and from southern Manitoba through the Canadian deciduous forests is a testament to its effective techniques for survival in a variety of climate zones.
These easily recognizable beetles can grow to a length of over an inch and a half. They are a shiny coal black, have a small horn between their eyes, and have club-shaped antenna.
Members of this beetle species also have many long grooves on their elytra, the forewing which covers their thorax when not in flight. When disturbed the adults produce a squeaking sound by rubbing their wings on their abdomen.
It is speculated this action is for communication between members of the colony, possibly to indicate danger to other beetles. It is easy for humans to hear this warning signal when ambient noise is low.
Many patent-leather beetles live together in close colonies. Adults commonly live over a year, prospering in the ups and downs of the thermometer.
One key to this beetle’s survival and longevity is what and where it eats.
Patent-leather beetles like to eat logs of certain trees, mostly the deciduous varieties, such as oaks and wax myrtles. Wood inhabited by these beetles is usually well decomposed and readily crumbles when it is handled, when it falls or when it is moved from its settling site.
Adult beetles inhabit fallen trunks and limbs provided the wood is large enough to support the settlers and its extended family. Using its large mandibles, the homesteader cuts into fallen logs and creates galleries where they will live and reproduce.
Once eggs are laid, adults repeatedly move their clutches through the galleries they constructed. Searching constantly for the best areas for wood to feed and settle the larvae, parents will guard ideal feeding sites for the protection and support of their eggs which will hatch the next generation.
When the eggs hatch, larvae remain with the parent adults and share mixtures of frass, bodily waste, and softened wood. Depending upon temperature and moisture conditions, the entire life cycle may occur within a summer season or take as long as 16 months.
The insulating capacity of the wood surrounding their tunnels provides a livable, if not cozy, environment to spend their days. Harmless to humans, the patent-leather beetle is considered beneficial in its activities to decompose dead wood and recycle it into the environment for reuse.
So, on the cool mornings soon to come, the patent-leather beetle is as snug as a bug in a rug (or a log).
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