Beetles flock to Tri-Cities

KENNEWICK – They may be harmless to humans, but the thousands of black beetles making their annual foray into south-central Washington’s Tri-Cities sure are annoying.

Kimberly Taverniti-Martyn and her husband, Jimi, have swept their driveway and sidewalks three times each day, sucking up the black bugs with a shop vacuum cleaner.

Jimi Martyn said his wife normally wouldn’t hurt a fly but is freaked out by the sheer number of insects.

“It’s creepy,” she said. “I kind of feel guilty for calling to have the property sprayed.”

The insects apparently travel from nearby uncultivated desert areas in the fall. The beetle migrations can be quite large, especially following mild winters, said Bill Cartwright, manager at Desert Green Lawn and Tree Care in Richland.

He also said the insects are merely an annoyance, not a health problem or harmful to landscaping. There is no real hazard, other than making “a crunchy mess” and spoiling the look of paved areas.

“It can look like the ground is moving,” Cartwright said.

Dawn West, of Kennewick, said the creatures are so thick in a basement window well, it is “crawling black, nasty.”

West and her husband, Dale, took an evening walk this week, seeing how many beetles they could squash with a single step. “The record was eight,” she said.

The beetle invasion is the second in three years for the West family, but this time she decided to go on the offensive. First came a proven ant killer, then foamy hornet spray enhanced with chlorine crystals.

“They just walked right through it. There are hordes of them,” West said.

Not even a barrier of tree insecticide would slow the march.

“I’ve swept my driveway until I have blisters on my hands,” said West, who greets each morning hoping the beetles are finally gone, for at least one more year.

Gwen Hoheisel, of the Washington State University Extension office in Prosser, said the beetles may be of the Tenebrionidae family, harmless, but common in the desert region. They’re more commonly known as darkling beetles, a family that includes more than 15,000 known species.

“This is not unusual as a natural occurrence,” Hoheisel said.