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 Germans Death Valley Germans The Death Valley Germans (as dubbed by the media) were a family of four German tourists who went missing in Death Valley National Park on July 23, 1996. After an intense search and rescue operation no trace of the family was discovered and the search was called off. In 2009 the presumed remains of the adult members of the family were discovered by hikers who were searching for evidence of the German tourists' fates, and conclusive proof of the fate of the male adult has been established. The family consisted of 34-year-old German architect Egbert Rimkus, his