A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Cicindela sexguttata
The tiger beetles are a large group of beetles known for their aggressive predatory habits and running speed. The fastest species of tiger beetle can run at a speed of 9 km/h (5.6 mph), which, relative to its body length, is about 22 times the speed of former Olympic sprinter Michael Johnson,[1] the equivalent of a human running at 480 miles per hour (770 km/h). As of 2005, about 2,600 species and subspecies were known. Tiger beetles often have large bulging eyes, long, slender legs and large curved mandibles. All are predatory, both as adults and as larvae. They are commonly found in the deciduous forests in between the Minnesota and Ontario and south to Kentucky, and are easily recognizable by their large, white, overlapping mandibles. The imago (adult) is 12–14 mm in length, with long legs. The large white mandibles, give these attractive insects a ferocious appearance. Although they are strong enough to subdue their prey, they do not bite humans unless handled. Both the common name and the species name refer to the number of small white spots on the beetle's metallic-green to metallic-blue elytra, usually numbering six. This is not always true, however, as some individuals have fewer spots, or none at all. Six-spotted Tiger Beetles live in woody places, and they like shady openings such as dirt paths and fallen logs to hunt caterpillars, ants, spiders, and many other kinds of arthropods. This species is not gregarious, but sometimes many beetles may be seen in one fallen log. The females lay eggs in sandy patches, and the larvae burrow into the ground when they hatch. Here they lie in wait until small arthropods walk by, where then the larvae pounce much like jack in the boxes. The beetles stay in larvae form for one year before pupating. The beetle has a total lifespan of just under 5 years.
The larvae of tiger beetles live in cylindrical burrows as much as a meter deep. They are large-headed, hump-backed grubs that flip backwards to capture prey insects that wander over the ground. 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. 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
Although they are strong enough to subdue their prey, they do not bite humans unless handled. Close up image from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:S... by AlphaWolf
...or you can get lucky and sneak up on one while it is eating, like this: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/733.... :)
If you want a close up photography of it without scaring it away, try not to be tall to cover most of it's sight. That's pretty hard, unless you came from behind.
That's a Tiger Beetle.
I know why you don't have a close up photograph of it, it's because it keeps flying away right.
Spotted on Oct 8, 2011
Submitted on Oct 8, 2011
+1
