Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2005 7:36 pm Post subject: Darkling ground beetles eat almonds
One of our almond orchards near Delano had an invasion of darkling ground beetles walking in from a nearby weedy field just as the almonds hit the ground. I wondered whether they could damage the nuts, so I opened a few, and found that they could.
I took a picture of one beetle inside the shell, chewing on the nut. This nut apparently already had twig borer damage, but the beetle was very evidently enjoying a meal.
Devin Carroll