Israel Insect World

The Scarabid beetle Brenskiella flavomicans (Melolonthinae) is a mysterious one.

The adult can be seen in the sand dunes of the Israeli Coastal plains at night about this

time of the year. They are very low fliers and are unique for 2 reasons: it is an endemic specie to Israel AND the female 

is not known to science (as well as the biology of this specie). I spent some good hours trying to locate a female

and seems that last Thursday I finally had my share of luck. As usual I followed some males. They didn't suspect a thing since I played it cool as if I was just walking the dunes and passing them by accident. It worked. They took me to their leader (well, a female, like in humans). They actually went for a blind date but here I was too. The female was like a tank comparing to the males (no offense, this is true as the photographs will show:wink:).

The female spends her time under the soil and probably never get out. It can't fly as well. I hope you will enjoy the photos. You are now the first to see the unknown female: (oh, why night story? because they are active at night)..

This is not the end of the story since more data is now known but I will leave the other stuff for later on...

Hi Oz... how are going things? there's someone waiting for the end of the story 

Hey Marco! You are right. Actually its time to make a description of the female but I have one more duty to do before that (Adoretus paper) so it will probably take at least 2-3 weeks. I also engaged in some other Mollusks relating projects but I'm close to finish line (field guide to fresh water species in Israel, in Hevrew).

I'm waiting to hear some news from you as well... please update me through mail.

Ciao, Oz