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Tiger beetle

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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 Template:Convert, or about 125 body lengths per second.<ref name="cornell">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>Pearson, D.L. & F. Cassola, 2005</ref> 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.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref>

DescriptionEdit

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 family. These live primarily in the dry regions of southern Africa.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

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

File:Tiger Beetle Repair Shaft.webm
Tiger beetle larva 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 prevent struggling prey from pulling them out of their shaft.

File:Tiger Beetle Catch Attempts.webm
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.

File:Tiger Beetle Adults.webm
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.<ref>Werner, K. 2000</ref>


Tiger beetles are considered a good indicator species and have been used in ecological studies on biodiversity.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> 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.<ref>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</ref>

AdaptationsEdit

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.<ref name="cornell"/> To avoid obstacles while running they hold their antennae rigidly and directly in front of them to mechanically sense their environment.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>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. </ref> A few species of Cicindela have been found to be able to hunt without use of their eyes and several are crepuscular.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Several species have been found to be sensitive to ultrasound and also produce ultrasound in response to bats and are thought to be Batesian mimics, imitating the sounds of toxic moths that are avoided by bats.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Fossil recordEdit

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.<ref name="Zhao2019">Template:Cite journal</ref> 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.<ref name="Zhao2019"/> Previously known Mesozoic fossils of tiger beetles have been described from the Crato Formation, about 113 million years ago<ref name="Zhao2019"/> and Oxycheilopsis cretacicus from the Santana Formation, 112 million years ago,<ref name="Gough2018">Template:Cite journal</ref> both in Brazil.

TaxonomyEdit

Tiger beetles had been treated either as a family Cicindelidae or as the subfamily Cicindelinae<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> 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.<ref name=":0"/> Many genera are the result of the splitting of the large genus Cicindela, and many were described by the German entomologist Walther Horn.<ref name=":0"/><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=tribes>Template:Cite journal</ref>

GeneraEdit

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CitationsEdit

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General and cited referencesEdit

  • "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 Template:Webarchive, volume 15 Template:Webarchive, volume 18 Template:Webarchive, and 20 volume 20 by Karl Werner, Sciences Nat, Venette, 1991, 1992, 1993 & 1995.

External linksEdit

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