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tiger beetle

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tiger beetle

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Tiger beetle (Cicindela).
(credit: William E. Ferguson)
Any of some 2,000 species (family Cicindelidae) of voracious beetles, found worldwide but mostly in the tropics and subtropics. The larva waits at the top of its burrow (up to 2 ft, or 0.7 m, deep) and grasps approaching insect prey with sicklelike jaws. Hooks on the abdomen anchor it so that the struggling victim cannot pull away, and the prey is dragged into the burrow and eaten. The slender, long-legged adults, less than an inch (25 mm) long, have long jaws that can inflict a painful bite. Many are iridescent blue, green, orange, or scarlet.

tiger beetle [′tī·gər ‚bēd·əl]
(invertebrate zoology)
The common name for any of the bright-colored beetles in the family Cicindelidae; there are about 1300 species distributed all over the world.
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Before that I would be looking at tiger beetles and thinking they were stag beetles," he said.
Guides to Nature; Books to learn what's around us by Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, MA)
A green tiger beetle scuttled just a footfall ahead on the sandy path and a lizard slithered away among the rocks of the collapsed dry-stone wall that we settled on, but otherwise nothing moved except the sea of heather, gently wobbling in the afternoon's hazy heat.
Country diary by guardian.co.uk / guardian.co.uk
Phil Smith noted good numbers of northern dune tiger beetle at Ainsdale's Green Beach, with its unseasonal female snow bunting.
LAZY Pete sprawled on the bare earth by Daily Post (Liverpool, England)
 
 
 
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