''Polyphylla barbata'' is a rare species of

beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

known by the common name Mount Hermon June beetle. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, where it occurs only in Santa Cruz County. There is only a single occurrence of the beetle on a stretch of territory of under . This is a federally listed

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

of the United States.''Polyphylla barbata''.
The Nature Conservancy. The beetle is about 2 centimeters long, black and brown in color with broken white longitudinal stripes on the back. The

elytra An elytron (; ; , ) is a modified, hardened forewing of beetles (Coleoptera), though a few of the true bugs (Hemiptera) such as the family Schizopteridae are extremely similar; in true bugs, the forewings are called hemelytra (sometimes alterna ...

are covered in a thin coat of hairs. The female is slightly larger than the male. The female spends most of her time underground, coming out only to mate with the male. USFWS
Zayante band-winged grasshopper and Mount Hermon June Beetle 5-Year Review.
August 2009. The male flies between mid-June and late July, being most active between 8:45 and 9:30 pm. His wings make a crackling sound as he flies.Hill, K. E. and R. O'Malley. (2009)
A picky palate? The host plant selection of an endangered June beetle.
''J Insect Conserv'' The insect is an underground dwelling

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. ...

for most of its

life cycle Life cycle, life-cycle, or lifecycle may refer to: Science and academia *Biological life cycle, the sequence of life stages that an organism undergoes from birth to reproduction ending with the production of the offspring * Life-cycle hypothesis ...

, and the adults may not feed at all. The larvae probably feed on plant rootsUSFWS
Determination of endangered status for two insects from the Santa Cruz Mountains of California.
''Federal Register'' January 24, 1997. and

mycorrhiza A mycorrhiza (from Greek μύκης ', "fungus", and ῥίζα ', "root"; pl. mycorrhizae, mycorrhiza or mycorrhizas) is a symbiotic association between a fungus and a plant. The term mycorrhiza refers to the role of the fungus in the plan ...

l fungi. The life cycle may be 2 to 3 years, but the male beetle's adulthood may last only a week and the female probably dies shortly after laying eggs. This beetle was first described in 1938 from a specimen from

Mount Hermon, California Mount Hermon is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Cruz County, California. History In 1841, California's first water-powered sawmill was built at the junction of Bean Creek and Zayante Creek by Peter L ...

. It is limited to the Zayante sandhills, a region around Mount Hermon,

Scotts Valley Scotts Valley is a small city in Santa Cruz County, California, United States, about thirty miles (48 km) south of downtown San Jose and six miles (10 km) north of the city of Santa Cruz, in the upland slope of the Santa Cruz Mount ...

, and

Ben Lomond Ben Lomond (Scottish Gaelic: Beinn Laomainn, 'Beacon Mountain'), , is a mountain in the Scottish Highlands. Situated on the eastern shore of Loch Lomond, it is the most southerly of the Munros. Ben Lomond lies within the Ben Lomond National Me ...

in the

Santa Cruz Mountains The Santa Cruz Mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are a mountain range in central and Northern California, United States. They form a ridge down the San Francisco Peninsula, south of San Francisco. They separate the Pacific Ocean from ...

. This region is also home to another endangered arthropod, the Zayante band-winged grasshopper (''Trimerotropis infantilis''). The habitat is

ponderosa pine ''Pinus ponderosa'', commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is the ...

forest and

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranea ...

with open, sandy areas forming pockets in the surrounding volcanic hills.''Polyphylla barbata''.
Essig Museum of Entomology, UC Berkeley. There are several rare, threatened plant species in the area, including the Ben Lomond wallflower (''Erysimum teretifolium''), the Ben Lomond spineflower (''Chorizanthe pungens'' ssp. ''hartwegiana''), and the Santa Cruz cypress (''Callitropsis abramsiana''). Over 40% of the Zayante sandhills region has been lost to human activity such as development and

sand mining Sand mining is the extraction of sand, mainly through an open pit (or sand pit) but sometimes mined from beaches and inland dunes or dredged from ocean and river beds. Sand is often used in manufacturing, for example as an abrasive or in conc ...

. Most of the home range of the beetle is in proximity to active sand mining operations.

Fire suppression Wildfire suppression is a range of firefighting tactics used to suppress wildfires. Firefighting efforts in wild land areas require different techniques, equipment, and training from the more familiar structure fire fighting found in populated ...

has led to an alteration of the normal flora of the area, with fire-tolerant plants being replaced by other species.''Polyphylla barbata''.
Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7226762 Polyphylla Endemic fauna of California ESA endangered species