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
Places of interest in the Death Valley area is lithified alluvial sediment. Mosaic Canyon is a canyon in the north western mountain face of the valley which is named after a stream-derived breccia sediment with angular blocks of dolomite in a pebbly matrix. The entrance to Mosaic Canyon appears deceptively ordinary, but just a walk up the canyon narrows dramatically to a deep slot cut into the face of Tucki Mountain. Smooth, polished marble walls enclose the trail as it follows the canyon's sinuous curves. The canyon follows faults that formed when the rocky crust of the Death Valley region began stretching just a few million years ago.