You see them one moment. They are gone the next moment. It is only when you look at them through the macro lens that you realize how resplendent they are. Tiger Beetles can simply take your breath away!
Tiger Beetle (Cicindela duponti) – Agumbe
Tiger Beetles are characterized by their large bulging eyes, long legs and curved mandibles. They are usually less than an inch in length. The patterns and colours on the wings vary in different species. Our encounters with them have always been in open areas, with the beetles preferring to sit on open ground or on the lower leaves of bushes. During our June tour of Agumbe, we encountered them very commonly around the camp site.
Tiger Beetle – Agumbe – Large eyes, long legs, large mandibles
In addition to being aggressive predators, they are also amongst the fastest runners in the insect world. They are known to outpace their prey to capture them. Relative to their length, the fastest Tiger Beetle can outpace the fastest human being by 22 times!
Tiger Beetle – Agumbe
They also seem to be fairly opportunistic. On the night walk, we observed many of them around the dining area of the camp-site, seemingly very active. Here’s 2 of them (of different species) on a leaf close to the ground.
Tiger Beetles at night – Agumbe
On a couple of occasions, we came across a very different looking Tiger Beetle, belonging to the genus Tricondyla. Much larger in size (almost an inch long), it didn’t have the patterns that the other Tiger Beetles displayed.
Tiger Beetle (Tricondyla sp.) – Agumbe
It preferred to run along the ground trying to get under leaf litter. It even ran up one of the tree trunks before disappearing. On both the occasions, it didn’t try to fly at all. They belong to a genus of flightless Tiger Beetles.
Tiger Beetle (Tricondyla sp.) – Agumbe
A few more facts about Tiger Beetles:
- There are more than 2500 species of Tiger Beetles found around the world, with more than 200 species found in India.
- They are classified either under their own family – Cicindelidae – or are sometimes placed as a subfamily – Cicindelinae – under the family of Ground Beetles (Carabidae).
- Tiger Beetles can run so fast that they are no longer able to see once they start running.
- In addition to running fast, they are also capable of fast flight. Their reaction times are said to be similar to those of House Flies.
- They are considered as indicators of biodiversity in their habitats.
On our June tour of Agumbe, we also came across quite a few Tiger Beetles mating. From the photograph (and what we observed), the mandibles of the male also seem to serve the function of holding on to the female.
Tiger Beetles (Cicindela duponti) mating – Agumbe
References for text: Wikipedia, Wild Wanderer – Karthik’s Journal
To experience and photograph the biodiversity of the rainforest, please join us on our Rainforest Rendezvous tours to Agumbe, Coorg and Goa. To learn more about these tours, click on the names of the places or visit our Wildlife Photography Tours page.
2 Comments