Death Valley June beetle Concern by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The California Department of Fish and Game considers the beetle a "Special Animal" of high conservation need. Death Valley June beetle The Death Valley June beetle ("Polyphylla erratica") is a scarab beetle in the subfamily Melolonthinae. It is only known to occur in the drainage basin of the Amargosa River in the southwestern United States. Saltgrass communities, such as those at Saratoga Springs in Death Valley, provide habitat for the insect at all stages of its life. Predators of the beetle include coyotes, ravens, and shrikes, the last of which are
Death Valley October 1992. On average, 192 days per year in Death Valley have temperatures that reach 90 °F or more. Before being moved to Furnace Creek, the weather station at Greenland Ranch averaged 194.4 days annually where temperatures reached 90 °F or more. The lowest temperature recorded at Greenland Ranch was in January 1913. The period from July 17–19, 1959, was the longest string of consecutive days where nighttime low temperatures did not drop below . The highest overnight or low temperature recorded in Death Valley is , recorded on July 5, 1918, and the current world record for highest overnight