First paedogenic beetle recorded

The first species of beetle revealed to be paedogenic is the telephone-pole beetle Micromalthus debilis, native to North Carolina and other eastern states of the USA. Paedogenesis is the ability to reproduce while still in a larval form, and in the case of the telegraph-pole beetle, when passing through its first stage of larval development, known as the cerambycoid (a legless, feeding phase), it can either undergo typical maturation via pupation to yield an adult female or it can exhibit paedogenesis by giving birth directly to as many as three different, additional female types, each producing different larval forms. As a result of its highly complex, female-dominated life cycle, the role of males in this species is minimal.

This unusual species is often deemed to be a so-called "living fossil" because it is the only living member of the very primitive taxonomic family Micromalthidae; prehistoric species found embedded in Lebanese amber date from approximately 125 million years ago. It earns its name from its habit of boring into wooden telephone poles, and can cause considerable damage to them.