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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Ground and Water Beetles (Adephaga) » Ground Beetles (Carabidae) » Tiger Beetles (Cicindelinae) » Flashy Tiger Beetles (Cicindelini)

Tribe Cicindelini - Flashy Tiger Beetles

Classification · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Numbers · Identification · Food · Life Cycle · Remarks · See Also · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited
BG1568 C9953 - Dromochorus pilatei - male ID request — Cicindela sexguttata? - Cicindela sexguttata Ellipsoptera macra macra - Ellipsoptera macra - male - female Carabidae: Cicindela - Cicindela purpurea Eunota circumpicta johnsoni - Eunota circumpicta Cicindela scutellaris lecontei - Cicindela scutellaris - male Cicindela Repanda? Tranquebarica? - Cicindela Cicindela denverensis - female
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Coleoptera (Beetles)
Suborder Adephaga (Ground and Water Beetles)
Family Carabidae (Ground Beetles)
Subfamily Cicindelinae (Tiger Beetles)
Tribe Cicindelini (Flashy Tiger Beetles)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Historical taxonomy: The species in the tribe Cicindelini were formerly placed in a single genus (Cicindela) until Erwin and Pearson (2008)(1) elevated most subgenera to genus rank. These include Brasiella, Cylindera, Dromochorus, Ellipsoptera, Eunota, Habroscelimorpha, and Opilidia.

Current freeze on Tiger Beetle taxonomy: Not yet reflected by the post-2012 Caraboid Registry nor yet acknowledged by BugGuide.net are recent selected taxonomic revisions of Cicindelini that were proposed in the popular field guide A Field Guide to the Tiger Beetles of the United States and Canada, 2nd ed., 2015 by Pearson et al. Revisions therein were credited to comparative DNA analysis by Duran, DP & Gwiazdowski, RA (2015) who apparently reported their results in an unpublished (not peer reviewed) work entitled “Systematic revision of Nearctic Cicindelini (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Cicindelinae): Re-evaluating Rivalier’s taxonomy”.
Numbers
ca. 2000 spp. worldwide, of which a half formerly assigned to Cicindela arranged into 85 subgenera; ca. 100 sp. in our area(2)
Identification
See(3) and Willis (1968).
Males can be distinguished from females by dense hairy pads on protarsomeres 1-3 ("tarsal pads").
Color can be a tricky character, see:
Food
All members of this tribe are predaceous on other insects as both adults and larvae.
Life Cycle
beetles are often seen in pairs, often for mate guarding (the male stays in contact with the female after mating in order to prevent further matings)
Remarks
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed Cicindela ohlone and Ellipsoptera nevadica lincolniana as endangered, and Habroscelimorpha dorsalis dorsalis & E. puritana as threatened
See Also
Tetracha
Elaphrus spp. (BL <10 mm) resemble miniature tiger beetles with large embossed circular spots on elytra
Print References
Willis H.L. (1968) Artificial key to the species of Cicindela of North America north of Mexico (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae). J. Kansas Ent. Soc. 41: 303-317 (Full text)
Internet References
Habitus photos of many species (Barcode of Life Systems web site)
Works Cited
1.A treatise on the Western Hemisphere Caraboidea (Coleoptera): Their classification, distributions, and ways of life. Vol. II
Erwin T.L., Pearson D.L. 2008. Pensoft Series Faunistica 84. Pensoft Publishers, Sofia. 400 pp.
2.American Beetles, Volume I: Archostemata, Myxophaga, Adephaga, Polyphaga: Staphyliniformia
Arnett, R.H., Jr., and M. C. Thomas. (eds.). 2000. CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL.
3.A field guide to the tiger beetles of the United States and Canada: identification, natural history, and distribution... 2nd Ed.
Pearson D.L., Knisley C.B., Duran D.P., Kazilek C.J. 2015. Oxford University Press. 328 pp.
Contributed by Cotinis on 13 January, 2006 - 8:54am
Additional contributions by TCMacRae, Aaron Schusteff, Peter Messer, ceiseman, v belov
Last updated 16 August, 2017 - 9:01am

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