By: K. Gargurevich & K. McNutley

Kingdom: Animalia Phylum:Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Coleptera Family: Cicindelidae Genus: Cicindela Species: puritana TAXONOMY

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION They are cold-blooded, invertebrate animals. Their size ranges from 12mm. to 14mm. They have a brown thorax and head with areas of dark greens, browns and bronzes. They have patterned elytra which are leathery wing covers that protect their wings located beneath. The patterns on these covers are symmetrical with a line running parallel to the pincers.

Physical Description Continued… Their large eyes help them spot their prey. Then they move quickly to capture their prey running after the prey on long slender legs. Their name comes from their ferocity as hunters. They spot their prey with their large eyes and then sprint to catch them, like tigers.

Speed Aggressive and highly skilled predators, tiger beetles have been clocked as the fastest animal on earth. If they were the size of a horse they’d probably be running 200 or 300 miles per hour. In fact, they can run so fast that they stop being able to process the incoming visual input, becoming blind, and need to stop to reorient themselves.

Hunting Technique When these speedy animals capture their prey, they grab it with their long, sword like mandibles, crush and tear the insect apart, and then spit up their saliva, which digests their prey even before they suck it up as a gooey stew. The puritan tiger beetle is carnivorous and at least a third level consumer. Their diet consists of small insects, flies and ants mainly.

Predators Dragonflies and robber flies may eat adults. Flies and wasps threaten the larva by laying parasitic eggs in larval burrows. If the fly and wasp eggs survive, the wasp larva attach themselves to the beetle larva and eat them alive.

HABITAT Puritan tiger beetles are found in only two places in the world the Chesapeake Bay and the Connecticut River. This beetle requires sandy beaches along both fresh and brackish water such as rivers, streams and estuaries. The beaches, often located at bends in the river, are generally dry, wide, and free of vegetation. These beaches are also where the tiger beetle’s prey are found.

Environmental Biotic Factors Flies, ants, and beach shrubbery. Flies and ants are its main prey and beach shrubbery provides protection from beach predators. Humans on the beach disrupt the beetle’s ability to mate. Puritan tiger beetles are most active on the beach at the same time people are.

Environmental Abiotic Factors Sand and fresh or brackish water are the basic abiotic factors. The pollutants that pass through the water and debris forming natural dams or obstacles can affect this beetle. Also man-made dams affect their place of habitat and may constrict waterways and flood their precious beaches.

Life Cycle The Puritan tiger beetle’s life cycle is only 2 years long. They spend about 96% of these 2 years as a larva. They are larva for 22 months spending much of their lives buried in the sand. The adults emerge anytime from late June to early August.

Life Cycle Continued… The beetles go from eggs to larva and then molt several times to pupa, finally becoming adults. This leaves them very little time as adults and little time to mate. Mating and egg laying occurs in mid August. The females place their eggs one by one just underneath the top layer of sand and then die.

Listed: 8/7/1990 Threatened Status since listing: Declined

Sources Babione, Michelle “Bringing Tiger beetles Together” Endangered Species Bulletin Jan-Feb 2003 p28 “Beetle” The World Book Encyclopedia vol. 4 Chicago World Book inc p “Federally Endangered or Threatened Species” march U.S. fish and wildlife Jenner, Jan. Science Explorer; Animals. Needham Massachusetts: Prentice Hall Inc, 2002 “Puritan Tiger Beetle” Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection last update unknown “Tiger Beetles of the United States” U.S. Department of the Interior/U.S. Geological Survey White, Richard. Beetles Of North America / Text And Illustrations Norwalk: Houghton Mifflin Company 1963 Wirthy, Chris “Species Cicindela puritana-Puritan Tiger Beetle” Iowa State University Entomology uritan_Tiger_beetle.htm