The bess beetle that talks to its family
December in Florida is mild, and the rotting logs on the forest floor are still warm with decomposition. Under one such log lives a small society: the bess beetles, glossy black beetles that spend their entire lives inside decaying wood, raising their young in family groups.
This is Odontotaenius disjunctus, widely known as the horned passalus beetle or bess beetle, a member of the family Passalidae. It is one of the most social of all beetles. Adults cooperate to chew and prepare wood for their larvae, and both adults and young communicate with a repertoire of squeaks and grunts produced by stridulation, rubbing body parts together. Pick one up and it will audibly complain.
That family life is the rare thing here. True parental care is almost unheard of among insects, yet passalid beetles feed, groom and defend their offspring. The larvae, in turn, are dependent on their parents to survive, a level of interdependence that would impress any bird or mammal.
Bess beetles are also famous for living long lives, with adults surviving for a year or more, an eternity for most insects. To hear a log quietly squeaking and know there is a whole conversation happening inside is one of the stranger and more delightful experiences in the woods.
