Tiger Beetles

Tiger beetles are a family of beetles, Cicindelidae, known for their aggressive predatory habits and running speed. The fastest known species of tiger beetle, '' Rivacindela hudsoni'', can run at a speed of , or about 125 body lengths per second. As of 2005, about 2,600 species and subspecies were known, with the richest diversity in the Oriental (Indo-Malayan) region, followed by the Neotropics. While historically treated as a subfamily of ground beetles (Carabidae) under the name Cicindelinae, several studies since 2020 indicated that they should be treated as a family, the Cicindelidae, which are a sister group to Carabidae within the Adephaga.

Description

Tiger beetles often have large bulging eyes, long, slender legs and large curved mandibles. All are predatory, both as adults and as larvae. The genus ''Cicindela'' has a cosmopolitan distribution. Other well-known genera include ''Tetracha'', ''Omus'', '' Amblycheila'' and '' Manticora''. While members of the genus ''Cicindela'' are usually diurnal and may be out on the hottest days, ''Tetracha'', ''Omus'', ''Amblycheila'' and ''Manticora'' are all nocturnal. Both ''Cicindela'' and ''Tetracha'' are often brightly colored, while the other genera mentioned are usually uniform black in color. Tiger beetles in the genus '' Manticora'' are the largest in size of the subfamily. These live primarily in the dry regions of southern Africa.

The larvae of tiger beetles live in cylindrical burrows as much as a meter deep. They are large-headed, hump-backed grubs and use their humpbacks to flip backwards, for the purpose of capturing prey insects that wander over the ground. The fast-moving adults run down their prey and are extremely fast on the wing, their reaction times being of the same order as that of common houseflies. Some tiger beetles in the tropics are arboreal, but most run on the surface of the ground. They live along sea and lake shores, on sand dunes, around playa lakebeds and on clay banks or woodland paths, being particularly fond of sandy surfaces.

Tiger beetles are considered a good indicator species and have been used in ecological studies on biodiversity. Several species of wingless parasitic wasps in the genus ''Methocha'' (family Thynnidae), lay their eggs on larvae of various ''Cicindela'' spp., such as ''Cicindela dorsalis''.

Adaptations

Tiger beetles display an unusual form of pursuit in which they alternatively sprint quickly toward their prey, then stop and visually reorient. This may be because while running, the beetle is moving too fast for its visual system to accurately process images. To avoid obstacles while running they hold their antennae rigidly and directly in front of them to mechanically sense their environment.

Fossil record

The oldest fossil tiger beetle yet found, ''Cretotetracha grandis'', comes from the Yixian Formation in Inner Mongolia, China, and dates to the early Cretaceous Period, 125 million years ago. Most fossils found are grey or yellow silty mudstone. Traits that identify ''Cretotetracha'' as Cicindelinae include long mandibles shaped like sickles, simple teeth arranged along the mandible's inner surface, antennae that attach to the head between the base of the mandibles and the eye. The left mandible is approximately 3.3 mm and the right mandible is approximately 4.2mm long. A long body form roughly around 8.1mm where the combined eyes and head are wider than the thorax, and long running legs. Previously known Mesozoic fossils of tiger beetles have been described from the Crato Formation, about 113 million years ago and '' Oxycheilopsis cretacicus'' from the Santana Formation, 112 million years ago, both in Brazil.

Taxonomy

Tiger beetles had been treated either as a family Cicindelidae or as the subfamily Cicindelinae of the Carabidae (ground beetles) but since 2020, there has been growing evidence for the treatment as a separate family, that is sister to the Carabidae. Many genera are the result of the splitting of the large genus ''Cicindela'', and many were described by the German entomologist Walther Horn.

Image:Manticorini sp.JPG, Museum specimen of '' Manticora'' sp. from Mozambique.
Image:Salt Creek Tiger Beetle.jpg, The rare Salt Creek tiger beetle, ''Cicindela nevadica lincolniana''
Image:Cicindelid bangalore.jpg, '' Cicindela goryi'' from India, showing the large eyes and mandibles
File:Tiger beetle Lophyra sp..jpg, Most tiger beetles run on the ground living on sand and lake shores
File:Cicindela chinensis flammifera MHNT.ZOO.2004.0.175.jpg, '' Cicindela chinensis''
File:20140817T132831 Lat 2 2 41.49049430 N Long 103 33 24.74152953 E.jpg, One of species in Gunung Belumut Recreational Forest.

Genera

* '' Abroscelis'' Hope, 1838
* '' Amblycheila'' Say, 1829
* ''Aniara'' Hope, 1838
* '' Antennaria'' Dokhtouroff, 1883
* '' Apteroessa'' Hope, 1838
* ''Archidela'' Rivalier, 1963
* '' Baloghiella'' Mandl, 1981
* '' Bennigsenium'' W. Horn, 1897
* '' Brasiella'' Rivalier, 1954
* '' Caledonica'' Chaudoir, 1860
* '' Caledonomorpha'' W. Horn, 1897
* '' Callidema'' Guerin-Meneville, 1843
* '' Callytron'' Gistl, 1848
* '' Calomera'' Motschulsky, 1862
* '' Calyptoglossa'' Jeannel, 1946
* '' Cenothyla'' Rivalier, 1969
* '' Cephalota'' Dokhtouroff, 1883
* '' Chaetodera'' Jeannel, 1946
* '' Cheilonycha'' Lacordaire, 1843
* '' Cheiloxya'' Guerin-Meneville, 1855
* ''Cicindela'' Linnaeus, 1758
* '' Collyris'' Fabricius, 1801
* '' Cratohaerea'' Chaudoir, 1850
* '' Cretotetracha'' Zhao et al., 2019
* '' Ctenostoma'' Klug, 1821
* '' Cylindera'' Westwood, 1831
* '' Darlingtonica'' Cassola, 1986
* '' Derocrania'' Chaudoir, 1860
* '' Diastrophella'' Rivalier, 1957
* '' Dilatotarsa'' Dokhtouroff, 1882
* '' Distipsidera'' Westwood, 1837
* '' Dromica'' Dejean, 1826
* '' Dromicoida'' Werner, 1995
* '' Dromochorus'' Guerin-Meneville, 1845
* '' Ellipsoptera'' Dokhtouroff, 1883
* '' Enantiola'' Rivalier, 1961
* ''Eunota'' Rivalier, 1954
* '' Euprosopus'' Dejean, 1825
* '' Euryarthron'' Guerin-Meneville, 1849
* '' Eurymorpha'' Hope, 1838
* '' Euzona'' Rivalier, 1963
* '' Grammognatha'' Motschulsky, 1850
* '' Grandopronotalia'' W. Horn, 1936
* '' Guineica'' Rivalier, 1963
* '' Habrodera'' Motschulsky, 1862
* '' Habroscelimorpha'' Dokhtouroff, 1883
* '' Heptodonta'' Hope, 1838
* '' Hypaetha'' Leconte, 1860
* '' Hujia''
* '' Iresia'' Dejean, 1831
* '' Jansenia'' Chaudoir, 1865
* ''Langea'' W. Horn, 1901
* '' Leptognatha'' Rivalier, 1963
* ''Lophyra'' Motschulsky, 1859
* '' Macfarlandia'' Sumlin, 1981
* '' Manautea'' Deuve, 2006
* '' Mantica'' Kolbe, 1896
* '' Manticora'' Fabricius, 1781
* '' Megacephala'' Latreille, 1802
* ''Megalomma'' Westwood, 1842
* '' Metriocheila'' Thomson, 1857
* '' Micromentignatha'' Sumlin, 1981
* '' Microthylax'' Rivalier, 1954
* '' Myriochila'' Motschulsky, 1862
* '' Naviauxella'' Cassola, 1988
* '' Neochila'' Basilewsky, 1953
* '' Neocicindela'' Rivalier, 1963
* '' Neocollyris'' W. Horn, 1901
* '' Neolaphyra'' Bedel, 1895
* '' Nickerlea'' W. Horn, 1899
* '' Notospira'' Rivalier, 1961
* '' Odontocheila'' Laporte, 1834
* ''Omus'' Eschscholtz, 1829
* '' Opilidia'' Rivalier, 1954
* '' Opisthencentrus'' W. Horn, 1893
* '' Orthocindela'' Rivalier, 1972
* '' Oxycheila'' Dejean, 1825
* †'' Oxycheilopsis'' Cassola & Werner, 2004
* '' Oxygonia'' Mannerheim, 1837
* '' Oxygoniola'' W. Horn, 1892
* '' Paraphysodeutera'' J. Moravec, 2002
* ''Pentacomia'' Bates, 1872
* '' Peridexia'' Chaudoir, 1860
* '' Phaeoxantha'' Chaudoir, 1850
* '' Phyllodroma'' Lacordaire, 1843
* '' Physodeutera'' Lacordaire, 1843
* '' Picnochile'' Motschulsky, 1856
* '' Platychile'' Macleay, 1825
* '' Pogonostoma'' Klug, 1835
* '' Polyrhanis'' Rivalier, 1963
* '' Pometon'' Fleutiaux, 1899
* '' Prepusa'' Chaudoir, 1850
* '' Probstia'' Cassola, 2002
* '' Pronyssa'' Bates, 1874
* '' Pronyssiformia'' W. Horn, 1929
* '' Prothyma'' Hope, 1838
* '' Prothymidia'' Rivalier, 1957
* '' Protocollyris'' Mandl, 1975
* '' Pseudotetracha'' Fleutiaux, 1894
* '' Pseudoxycheila'' Guerin-Meneville, 1839
* '' Rhysopleura'' Sloane, 1906
* '' Rhytidophaena'' Bates, 1891
* '' Rivacindela'' Nidek, 1973
* '' Ronhuberia'' J. Moravec & Kudrna, 2002
* ''Salpingophora'' Rivalier, 1950
* '' Socotrana'' Cassola & Wranik, 1998
* '' Stenocosmia'' Rivalier, 1965
* '' Sumlinia'' Cassola & Werner, 2001
* ''Tetracha'' Hope, 1838
* ''Therates'' Latreille, 1816
* '' Thopeutica'' Schaum, 1861
* ''Tricondyla'' Latreille, 1822
* '' Vata'' Fauvel, 1903
* '' Waltherhornia'' Olsoufieff, 1934

Citations

General and cited references

* "Further new country records of African Tiger Beetles with some taxonomical note (Coleoptera, Cicindelidae)" by Peter Schüle. ''Entomologia Africana'' 15(2), 2010.
* ''The Tiger beetles of Africa'' by Karl Werner, Taita Publishers 2000.
* "A Quantitative Analysis of Species Descriptions of Tiger Beetles (Coleoptera Cicindelidae), from 1758 to 2004, and Notes about Related Developments in Biodiversity Studies" by D.L. Pearson and F. Cassola. ''The Coleopterists Bulletin'' Vol 59, no. 2, June 2005.
* ''Tiger Beetles of Alberta: Killers on the Clay, Stalkers on the Sand'' by John Acorn. University of Alberta Press, 2001.
* ''Tiger Beetles: The Evolution, Ecology, and Diversity of the Cicindelids'' by David L. Pearson and Alfried P. Vogler. Cornell University Press, 2001.
* ''A Field Guide to the Tiger Beetles of the United States and Canada'' by David L. Pearson, C. Barry Knisley and Charles J. Kazilek. Oxford University Press, 2005.
* '' The Beetles of the World''
volume 13




, and 2

by Karl Werner, Sciences Nat, Venette, 1991, 1992, 1993 & 1995.

External links

Cicindela Online
* https://web.archive.org/web/20060831202838/http://homepage3.nifty.com/trechinae/cicinw.htm

Planet's Coolest Critters—Tiger Beetles






on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site
* Moravec J. (2010)
Tiger Beetles of the Madagascan Region (Madagascar, Seychelles, Comoros, Mascarenes, and other islands) Taxonomic revision of the 17 genera occurring in the region (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae)
(430 pp.)

Siuslaw Hairy-Necked Tiger Beetle
—Video produced by ''Oregon Field Guide''
* Štrunc V. (2020)
Tiger Beetles of the World - Illustrated guide to the genera, 338 species

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Beetle families
Arthropod families