Beetles are going mad over rock music and Rush Limbaugh. According to the Discovery Channel, researchers at Northern Arizona University used recordings of heavy metal bands and Rush Limbaugh to interrupt tunneling, mating and reproduction of beetles that destroy trees such as ponderosa, pinyon and lodgepole pines. They presented the findings of their project dubbed “Beetle Mania” at a national meeting of the Entomological Society of America.

Richard Hofstetter, a professor at NAU, “told Discovery News that ‘the most annoying sound’ his colleague, Reagan McGuire, ‘could think of was Rush Limbaugh or rock music.’” So they played recordings of Guns & Roses, Queen and Limbaugh to beetles in a laboratory setting.

To avoid going mad themselves, the scientists played the recordings backward so “the words were meaningless.” Playing music by the Beatles, namesakes of the insects, wasn’t considered viable since the mopheads’ sound is preferable “over a lot of other music that is out there.”

Hofstetter said he and his colleagues learned that even though Limbaugh and heavy metal bothered the bugs, the beetles soon ignored it. So the scientists went to Plan B – playing the beetles’ own sounds.

Focusing on an aggressive call produced by males and making it longer and louder, the researchers were able to produce some frightening results.

“We found we could disrupt mating, tunneling and reproduction,” said Hofstetter. “We could even make the beetles turn on each other, which normally they would not do.”

So maddening was the noise that, as two beetles were about to mate, the scientists “watch(ed) in horror as the male beetle would tear the female apart.”

Other beetlemaniacs find the news interesting in terms of new methods besides chemicals to thwart insect infestation of trees. But how to harness the sonic attack is another problem.

“The practical application will also require some new ideas,” said Wulfia Gronenberg of the University of Arizona, “unless you want to put a loudspeaker on every tree.”

Personally, I’m more interested in finding sound solutions to other entomological pests. Specifically, how can you get rid of ants, carpenter bees and another little moth-like fly that’s recently taken up residence in my kitchen.

We usually find ants in the house during the warmer months. The carpenter bees, which find nourishment in the wood siding, weren’t deterred when we covered the house in vinyl.

The latest invaders, who are easy to kill with a flyflap, seem to be extremely procreative. As soon as we rid the kitchen of a family of the critters, another generation pops up.

Looks like I’m gonna have to crank up the stereo and turn it up full blast to gain some headway with the little flyers.

I guess the best way to do it is leave the speakers cranked up while I’m gone. You know, like setting off an insect bomb just before leaving the house on an extended vacation.

Here’s hoping that when I return there’ll be lots of carcasses but no flying or roosting insects.

Otherwise, I’ll be the one going mad.



Larry Penkava, who has written Now and Then since 1994, would record the insects but doesn’t have a mic that small.