New Tiger Beetle Guide Posted on iNaturalist
Eleven species of tiger beetles are known from Martha's Vineyard, some of them common and widespread, some of them rare or perhaps even extirpated. Several of our species are of conservation concern, listed under the Massachusetts or Federal Endangered Species Acts. To help facilitate the study of these attractive and interesting beetles on Martha's Vineyard, we've prepared a simple identification guide to the Vineyard's species, accessible here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/guides/13576
Tiger beetles average about a half-inch to three-quarters of an inch in length. As a group, they've generally strongly marked, which makes them fairly easy to identify, and often show iridescent body parts, which makes them attractive. Look for them in open habitat with sparse vegetation or even bare sand. Larval tiger beetles are ambush hunters that live in burrows; adults chase their prey (nearly any sort of small arthropod) down with bursts of incredibly fast running. Tiger beetles can be hard to spot when standing still, and you'll probably find that you notice them most regularly when they flush in response to your movement. But follow them carefully while they're in flight; they typically fly less than 30 feet or so when flushed, and with careful observation you can often spot where they land. Then a more careful approach -- "low and slow" -- will get you into binocular range, or even photography range, allowing identification based on the beetle's color and pattern of markings.
Keep an eye out for these fascinating predator beetles, and be sure to submit any photos you manage to get to iNaturalist. We appreciate your help in studying these important insects!
Comments
This is a very helpful guide, Matt. Thanks! When was the genus changed for dorsalis?
Recently enough so that not all sources have adopted the change! I first heard of it maybe five years ago.
PS Here's helpful info. from the Bugguide info. pate for Cicindelini:
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”.
Thanks for that info on the genera change and the freeze on taxonomy for tiger beetles.
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