Tiger beetle

Tiger beetle
Temporal range: Aptian–Recent
Lophyra sp. in Tanzania
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Superfamily: Caraboidea
Family: Cicindelidae
Latreille, 1802
Tribes[1]
Synonyms
  • Cicindelinae Latreille, 1802

Tiger beetles are a family of beetles, Cicindelidae, known for their aggressive predatory habits and running speed. The fastest known species of tiger beetle, Rivacindela hudsoni, can run at a speed of 9 km/h (5.6 mph; 2.5 m/s), or about 125 body lengths per second.[2] As of 2005, about 2,600 species and subspecies were known, with the richest diversity in the Oriental (Indo-Malayan) region, followed by the Neotropics.[3] While historically treated as a subfamily of ground beetles (Carabidae) under the name Cicindelinae, several studies since 2020 indicated that they should be treated as a family, the Cicindelidae, which are a sister group to Carabidae within the Adephaga.[4]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference tribes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Friedlander, Blaine (1998-01-16). "Cornell News, Jan. 16, 1998 When tiger beetles chase prey at high speeds they go blind temporarily, Cornell entomologists learn". News.cornell.edu. Retrieved 2020-10-26.
  3. ^ Pearson, D.L. & F. Cassola, 2005
  4. ^ Vasilikopoulos, Alexandros; Balke, Michael; Kukowka, Sandra; Pflug, James M.; Martin, Sebastian; Meusemann, Karen; Hendrich, Lars; Mayer, Christoph; Maddison, David R.; Niehuis, Oliver; Beutel, Rolf G.; Misof, Bernhard (October 2021). "Phylogenomic analyses clarify the pattern of evolution of Adephaga (Coleoptera) and highlight phylogenetic artefacts due to model misspecification and excessive data trimming". Systematic Entomology. 46 (4): 991–1018. doi:10.1111/syen.12508. ISSN 0307-6970.