Rain Beetle
The rain beetles are a group of beetles whose extant species are found only in the far west of North America. They spend most of their lives underground, emerging in response to rain or snow, thus the common name. Formerly classified in the Scarabaeidae (and later the Geotrupidae), they are currently assigned to their own family Pleocomidae, considered the sister group to all the remaining families of Scarabaeoidea. The family contains a single extant genus, '' Pleocoma'', and two extinct genera, ''Cretocoma'', described in 2002 from Late Cretaceous deposits in Mongolia, and '' Proteroscarabeus'' of Late Cretaceous China.Krell, Frank-Thorsten. "The fossil record of Mesozoic and Tertiary Scarabaeoidea (Coleoptera: Polyphaga)." Invertebrate Systematics 14.6 (2000): 871-905. Extant members of '' Pleocoma'' are known from extreme southern Washington, throughout the mountains of Oregon and California, and into the extreme north of Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower Cali ...
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John Lawrence LeConte
John Lawrence LeConte (May 13, 1825 – November 15, 1883) was an American entomologist of the 19th century, responsible for naming and describing approximately half of the insect taxa known in the United States during his lifetime,Bird Name Biographies
- URL retrieved September 14, 2006 including some 5,000 of beetles. He was recognized as the foremost authority on North American s during his lifetime, and has been described as "the father of American beetle study".Evans, Arthur V., and James N. Hogue. 2004. Chapter 1: A Brief History of Beetle Study in California. ''I ...
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