- Maladera insanabilis
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Maladera insanabilis 
Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Coleoptera Superfamily: Scarabaeoidea Family: Scarabaeidae Subfamily: Melolonthinae Genus: Maladera Subgenus: (Cephaloserica) Species: M. insanabilis Binomial name Maladera insanabilis
Brenske, 1894Synonyms Maladera matrida Argaman, 1986
Maladera insanabilis is a species of a beetle in the family Scarabaeidae and are prevalent in Iran and other countries in the Middle-East.
Adults are active in the summer and in the spring. Males can be seen flying at night searching for females, and their attraction to light makes them a common household pest. Adults range in length from 7 to 9 mm and possess a brownish-red color.
Diet
The adult diet consists of leaves, buds and flowers of several plants like roses, sweet potato and citrus trees. The female lays between 60 to 100 eggs on the soil in clusters. The larval forms of M. insanabilis live underground. Their diet consists of roots and may cause serious damage to crops like sweet potato.
Introduction to the Israeli Ecosystem
This species was introduced into Israel in the 1980s. It is believed that a number of specimens arrived on shipments of pistachios and oil that were brought from Iran. Unaware that this beetle was already well-known elsewhere, an Israeli researcher mistakenly re-named it Maladera matrida, the new (and invalid) scientific name reflecting the nuisance it brings: "matrida" "מטרידה" means "annoying" in Hebrew. Due to its Iranian origin and brown color ("khoum" in Hebrew), it is usually called Khomeini after Irananian politician Ruhollah Khomeini who was the spiritual leader of Iran at the time.
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