Larvae bore into moist, decaying chestnut and oak logs, creating galleries as they consume wood fibers.

Micromalthus's evolutionary history dates back millions of years, with fossil records found in various ambers.

Their larvae infest timber, weakening structures and attracting fungi, as seen in South African gold mines in the 1930s.

Being one of few parthenogenetic haplodiploid species, the telephone-pole beetle is an interesting subject of coleopteran reproductive behavior and physiology.

A recent study by Bertone et al. (2016)[2] found telephone-pole beetles in a survey of the indoor arthropod fauna in 50 houses located in and around Raleigh, North Carolina.

With finds in South Africa, Hong Kong, Belize,[4] Cuba, Brazil, Japan, Hawaii, Italy and Austria, the dispersal is likely connected to the timber trade.

The species, first reported by John Lawrence LeConte in 1878, was long considered one of the Polyphaga, and placed in the Lymexylidae or Telegeusidae, or as a family within the Cantharoidea.

The body is characterized by its slender, elongated form, maintaining parallel sides and cylindrical shape, featuring dorsal and ventral ampullae along with lateral bulges on numerous segments.

Barber, the adult female is responsible for The larvae are wood-borers that feed on moist and decaying chestnut and oak logs.

[10] Upon being birthed live, the larva emerges as a minute white creature with long, slender legs that resemble the carabid type.

[9] This stage is primarily focused on migration, with the young larvae crawling away from the location of their birth to find new areas within their habitat.

They feed minimally during this time and undergo their first molt, transforming into a legless form that resembles the larva of cerambycid beetles.

[9] Depending on circumstances, the larvae may either pupate (though this is described as rare) or undergo another molt, ultimately revealing the paedogenetic form, in which they can produce young.

The adults of both sexes are sterile and are vestigial remnants of a time when the life cycle involved sexual reproduction.

Pollock & Normack reported the existence of reproductive adult males, but this was based on the incorrect conclusions by Barber.

[11] The study revealed sex-role reversal, meaning that females face more competition for mates compared to males.

Females also perform a 'kin dance' involving shaking of their abdomens and beating of their wing, which is thought to be a deterring signal to related males.

[12] A close relationship between Ommatidae and Micromalthidae is supported by several morphological characters, including those of the mandibles and male genitalia.

[14] The oldest record of Micromalthidae is Archaeomalthus from the Upper Permian of Russia around 252 million years old, which is morphologically similar in many respects to Micromalthus including an only weakly sclerotised body.

[21] In the 1930s, telephone-pole beetle larvae were reported as the perpetrators of a gold mine infestation in the Witwatersrand Basin in South Africa.

The primary timbers employed in the mines, including Acacia, Eucalyptus, and Pinus species, are all susceptible to infestation, particularly in conditions with ample moisture.

Heavy infestations were noted in aged timbers within poorly ventilated shafts, especially in environments with temperatures ranging from 88 to 93 °F.