tiger beetle

Tiger beetle
Lophyra sp in Tanzania
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Suborder:	Adephaga
Family:	Carabidae
Subfamily:	Cicindelinae Latreille, 1802
Tribes
Cicindelini Collyridini Ctenostometatini Manticorini Megacephalini Omini
Synonyms
Cicindelidae Latreille, 1802

The tiger beetles are a large group of beetles known for their predatory habits. Some tiger beetles can run at a speed of 8 km/h (5 mph). For its size it has been suggested that they are technically the fastest running land animals^[1].

Cicindela aurofasciata from India, showing the large eyes and mandibles

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 deserts of South Africa.

The larvae of tiger beetles live in cylindrical burrows as much as a meter deep. They are large-headed, hump-backed grubs that flip backwards to capture 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 have been considered as good indicator species and have been used in ecological studies on biodiversity. Methocha, a parasitic wingless wasp species lays its eggs on Cicindela dorsalis larvae. ^[2]

Estimations have shown that the tiger beetle could easily reach speeds of 200-300 mph (320-480 km/h) if it was proportionately the size of a Human.^{[citation needed]}

Systematics

Museum specimen of Manticora sp. from Mozambique.

The rare Salt Creek Tiger Beetle, Cicindela nevadica lincolniana

Tiger beetles were traditionally classified as the family Cicindelidae but most authorities now treat them as the subfamily Cicindelinae of the Carabidae (ground beetles). The most recent classifications, however, have relegated them to a subgroup within the subfamily Carabinae, though this is not yet universally accepted; accordingly, there is no consensus classification for this group, at any level from family down to subspecies, and it can be exceedingly difficult to decipher the taxonomic literature surrounding this group. There are about 2,100 species known, with numbers ranging much higher or lower depending on the authority consulted. Very many were described by the German entomologist Richard Horn. The genera of tiger beetles include:

• Ambalia Jeannel, 1946
• Amblycheila Say, 1829
• Aniara Hope, 1838
• Abroscelis Hope, 1838
• Callytron
• Calomera
• Cicindela Linné, 1758
• Cephalota Dokhtouroff, 1883
• Cenothyla
• Chaetodera
• Chiloxia Guerin
• Chilonycha
• Collyris
• Cosmodela
• Ctenostoma Klug
• Cylindera Westwood, 1831
• Doromica
• Eucallia
• Habrodera
• Heptodonta
• Hipparidium
• Homodela Rivalier, 1950
• Hypaetha LeConte, 1860
• Iresia Dejean
• Lophyridia
• Lophyra
• Manticora Fabricius, 1781
• Megacephala Latreille, 1802
• Myriochile Motschulsky, 1858
• Naviauxella
• Neocollyris
• Odontochila Castelnau
• Omus Eschscholtz, 1829
• Oxychila Dejean
• Oxygonia Mannerheim
• Pentacomia
• Phaeoxantha Chaudoir
• Physodeutera Lacordaire
• Picnochila
• Platychila
• Pogonostoma
• Pometon
• Pronyssa
• Pronyssiformia
• Prothymia
• Prothymidia
• Pseudoxychila Guerin
• RopaloteresGuerin-Meneville, 1849
• Tetracha Hope, 1838
• Therates
• Tricondyla

Many of the genera result from the splitting of the large genus Cicindela.

Footnotes

Bibliography

• 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.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cicindelidae

Wikispecies has information related to: Cicindelinae

• Cicindela Online
• http://homepage3.nifty.com/trechinae/cicinw.htm (Japanese)
• Tiger Beetles of the U.S.A.
• Tiger Beetles of Papua Indonesia
• Tiger beetles of Florida on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site