Green Tiger Beetle

Facts about Green Tiger Beetles, "Scientific name for Green Tiger Beetle is Cicindela campestris". The Green Tiger Beetle is thought to have gotten its name from its fierce predatory behavior, the speed and probably their coloration. Green Tiger beetles of genus Mantnticora are usually the biggest in size. This beetle is known to habit South Africa while the Cicindela has the cosmopolitan distribution. Some beetles found in most tropics are arboreal. However, the majority run on the ground surface where prey is more. The Green Tiger Beetle are often found along sea and lake-shores, around Dry lake-beds, on banks composed of clay or woodland paths but the beetle is particularly accustomed to sandy surfaces. The Green Tiger Beetle is said to be a very good experimental species and it has therefore been utilized in ecological studies in regard to biodiversity.

Attributes of Green Tiger Beetle

Most of the Tiger Beetle species are black in color. However, both Tetracha and Cicindela are often very brightly colored. The Green Tiger Beetles have large and bulging eyes, their mandibles are large long, slender and often curved. All the tiger beetle species are predatory, both in the adult or larvae stage. Since they are very fast, they easily and quickly take flight once disturbed. Records show that some of the Green Tiger Beetles are able to clock speeds of a little over 5 miles an hour (or 9km/h). A speed like this one makes the Green tiger beetle the quickest animal on earth since if it was proportionately the size of a human being, its speed would be as high as 300 miles an hour (approximately 800km/h).

Habitat of Green Tiger Beetle

While families of the genera Tetracha, Amblycheila, Omus, and Manticora are all nocturnal in nature, families of the group Cicindela are commonly diurnal and will therefore be out even on the warmest days. The large headed larvae of the Green Tiger Beetles stay in cylindrical burrows that could be as deep as 3 feet 3 inches (1 meter). This larva has a characteristic hump-backed grubs that often flips backwards to capture small prey insects that stroll on the ground surface. The adult Green Tiger Beetle on the other hand run down the prey, insects and have adapted to reaction speed times equal to those of the common houseflies. The Green Tiger Beetle is also a strong flier and is very fast on the wings, many times faster than it is on the ground. However, it normally hunts on the ground other than with its wing.

Feeding and Reproduction of Green Tiger Beetle

A number of wingless wasps of the genus Methocha are said to lay eggs on Cicindela spp larvae especially the Cicindela dorsalis. One of the things that makes the Green Tiger Beetle very interesting is that it is more adapted to speed in the expense of its other senses. For instance, the Green Tiger Beetle has a characteristic halt and start movement when it is in pursuit for a prey. The reason for this is because the Green Tiger Beetle literary goes blind while running.

This happens because in its speed, the eyes cannot get enough photons. Also, this blindness is partly as a result of visual information coming to the brain faster than how the Green Tiger Beetle’s brain can process it. The Green Tiger Beetle therefore has to stop for a few seconds to relocate the prey.