Posted on July 23, 2024

I was selected as a Mark and Nancy Deyrup Visiting Scholar in 2023. I went to central Florida to search for one of the rarest beetles, Odontotaenius floridanus. They are scrub specialized passalid beetles and can only be found in one county.
I planned to stay in FL for a month so I packed my truck with everything I needed. On the first day I drove to Baton Rouge, LA to visit friends and stayed there for a night. The next morning I drove all the way to FL panhandle and camped at Torreya State Park. I collected a couple of Odontotaenius disjunctus before going fishing. The next day I arrived at Archbold Biological Station. My first impression when I got there was SHOCK. It was so hot and dry with that beautiful white sand. I have collected Passalidae from IL to FL but, but I did not expect them to live in a place like this. I settled into a dorm with a bunk bed style but I was the only tenant the whole time.

I am using my little tackle box to keep beetles temporary

Welcome to Archbold Biological Station!

A beetle wrangler from Texas...

In the first two weeks I had a very difficult time finding O. floridanus. I only found 2 dead individuals. They were completely dry out and partially eaten by ants so I did not think there was anything usable for DNA extraction. I was really discouraged and told my PI, Heath Blackmon. He told me that it was okay and at least I was doing something few people had attempted before. I started contacting museums and people have tried to find them in the past, hoping they might have specimens in good condition for DNA extraction. But overall the answer was no. They either do not have any specimens or they did not let people use their specimens. FSAC (Florida State Collection of Arthropods) only has 14 specimens (if I remember correctly). After all that networking, I came to a few conclusions:

1. O floridanus are extremely rare.
2. I only can rely on me, myself and I.

First encounter of O. floridanus

O. floridanus collections at Archbold. Those are the collection in the past 40 years. The oldest one was from 1983. There are only 13 (Two are O. disjunctus)

On June 3, 2024, I was walking around the lake in the morning enjoying the cool air and also keeping an eye out for any sign of beetles. I found a freshly dead one. I was really excited because this one might actually work for DNA extraction. I left the lake and while I was driving I started thinking maybe today is my lucky day. It turned out to be the date that I will never forget. I found 3 live individuals. I snapped some pictures and sent them to my Pi then collected them into my container. I think I might have figured something out.

Over the last two weeks, I ended up collecting 19 alive O. floridanus.

During this month, I also visited Highlands Hammock state park and Wekiwa Springs State Park to collect O. disjunctus. Compared to O. floridanus, O. disjunctus were way easier for me to find. My permit allowed me to collect up to 10 individuals per species per park. I usually collected 10 O. disjunctusin a single day even in places I had never been before. I think I have a really good sense of where their habitats are.

Early morning at scrub habitat

June 3, 2024 This first two alive O. floridanus!

Can you tell this is an O. floridanus?

Being a visiting scholar was one of the best parts of my year. I got paid to do my research and spent a month in Florida. Of course, I took some time to visit a few places around the state. I also met many scientists and learned about their work, which was really inspiring. And yes, I finally collected O. floridanus, a beetle that many people (including me) have dreamed of finding. Now, I’m getting ready to work on the genome assembly and short-read sequencing data. Stay tuned to see what I discover!

Enjoy some pictures from the trip

After a prescribed fire, scrub palmetto is usually the first to re-emerge

A scrub jay!

A gopher tortoise. This is the reason you have to slow down. They are endangered species