Tiger beetle

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Tiger beetle
Temporal range: Aptian–Recent
Lophyra sp. in Tanzania
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Superfamily: Caraboidea
Family: Cicindelidae
Latreille, 1802
Tribes[1]
Synonyms
  • Cicindelinae Latreille, 1802

Tiger beetles are a family 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.[4]

Description

Tiger beetles often have large bulging eyes, long, slender legs and large curved

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 family. These live primarily in the dry regions of southern Africa.[5]

The larvae of tiger beetles live in cylindrical burrows as much as a meter deep.

Tiger beetle larvae repairing its shaft

The grubs have a large head, armored on top with up to six small eyes and formidable mandibles beneath. There is a prominent hump on the top of their fifth abdominal segment with two pairs of reverse pointing hooks to anchor then in their burrow with their head filling the burrow and flush with the surface. They wait for prey to come too close, attempt to grab and pull them down their shaft. The hump and hooks preventing struggling prey from pulling them out of their shaft.

Tiger beetle larvae attempting to catch prey

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.

Six-spotted tiger beetle adults including a pair

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.[6]


Tiger beetles are considered a good

Cicindela dorsalis.[9]

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.[2] To avoid obstacles while running they hold their antennae rigidly and directly in front of them to mechanically sense their environment.[10] There are many tiger beetles that hunt in flat, sandy areas, and their eyes have flat-world adaptations, such as high-acuity perception streaks corresponding to the horizon. A tiger beetle uses the elevation of its potential prey in its visual field to determine how far away it is. As visual hunters, tiger beetles tend to hunt in open, relatively flat habitats, such as sand bars, woodland paths, and barren ground scrubland. In this sense, beetles might be expected to use elevation as a distance cue in their visual pursuit of prey.[11]

Fossil record

The oldest fossil tiger beetle yet found, Cretotetracha grandis, comes from the

Santana Formation, 112 million years ago,[13]
both in Brazil.

Taxonomy

Tiger beetles had been treated either as a family Cicindelidae or as the subfamily Cicindelinae

Walther Horn.[4][15][1]

Genera

Citations

  1. ^
    ISSN 0307-6970
    .
  2. ^ a b Friedlander, Blaine (1998-01-16). "Cornell News, Jan. 16, 1998 When tiger beetles chase prey at high speeds they go blind temporarily, Cornell entomologists learn". News.cornell.edu. Retrieved 2020-10-26.
  3. ^ Pearson, D.L. & F. Cassola, 2005
  4. ^
    ISSN 0307-6970
    .
  5. ISBN 0801438829
    .
  6. ^ Werner, K. 2000
  7. ISSN 0006-3207
    .
  8. ISSN 1051-0761
    .
  9. ^ Burdick, D.J. and Wasbauer, M.S. (1959). "Biology of Methocha californica Westwood (Hymenoptera: Tiphiidae)." Wasmann Jour. Biol. 17:75-88. Department of Environmental Conservation
  10. ^ "Blinded by speed, tiger beetles use antennae to 'see' while running". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 2020-10-26.
  11. ^ Layne, J. E., Chen, P. W., & Gilbert, C. (2006). The role of target elevation in prey selection by tiger beetles (Carabidae: Cicindela spp.). Journal of Experimental Biology, 209(Pt 21), 4295–4303.
  12. ^
    S2CID 134441297
    .
  13. S2CID 54046862
    .
  14. S2CID 54046862
    .
  15. S2CID 237486703
    .

General and cited references

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cicindelidae.
Wikispecies has information related to Cicindelinae.
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