Rivacindela hudsoni Temporal range:
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R. hudsoni sighting in South Australia | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Coleoptera |
Family: | Cicindelidae |
Genus: | Rivacindela |
Species: | R. hudsoni
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Binomial name | |
Rivacindela hudsoni (Sumlin, 1997)[1]
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Rivacindela hudsoni is an Australian species of the family Cicindelinae or "tiger beetle" and is the fastest running insect.[2] The genus Rivacindela is contentiously treated as a subgenus of the broader Cicindela and are typically found in salty habitats such as dry salt lakes and salt streams. The species was discovered in South Australia and described in 1997, with an adult form of approximately 20–21mm in length and a running speed of 2.49 m/s, or 120 body lengths per second.[3][4]
Tiger beetles are a unique species of beetles due to their widespread global distribution and abundance. With over 2300 species of tiger beetles, the diversity in their coloration, behavior, and ability to thrive in varying environments has led many scientists to analyze more about their background, history, taxonomy, and ecological relationships with other organisms.[5] Tiger beetles have an interesting classification: they are a unique species within the Coleoptera order and have created their own family called Cicindelidaes.[6] However, they have close resemblance and share similar characteristics with another family of ground beetles known as Carabidae. Another point of curiosity is how physically similar tiger beetles can exhibit completely different behaviors and cope with drastically dissimilar ecological conditions.
In the mid 19th century, Carolus Linnaeus, a Swedish biologist and physician known as the father of modern taxonomy, formally named the first tiger beetle species.[5] Later, field naturalist Thomas Say became the first American to analyze tiger beetles in the field during a period when it was dangerous to conduct field work in America. After decent amounts of data collection, beetle specialists then began to publish articles about tiger beetle taxonomy that was disseminated for other researchers specializing in the research area.
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