Scarabaeidae: Geotrupes stercorarius (probably) male following a female during courtship on April 24, 2000. The weather was warm earlier than usual so this might often occur a week or two later. Typically these beetles are seen walking around individually through the grass while the Scotch pines are heard to be "clicking" (the source of this sound is not known to me) up in the branches. It does not seem to be the cones since storm-felled trees with cones do not click it seems. Maybe it is some insect with nearly ultrasonic stridulation frequencies.

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Images © 2000 by John A. Byers, Chemical Ecology.