Our insect of the week for this week (December 16, 2024) begins a series. Instead of randomly focusing on an insect species found in central Illinois, I thought it might be helpful to focus on a single family of insets and highlight some of the more prominent species. Who doesn’t love a tiger beetle? So, I thought I would focus on 9 of the more common species found in central Illinois (yes, you guessed it, for 9 weeks). I am placing these in alphabetical order for no particular reason.

Tiger beetle # 1 is Cicindela formosa [COLEOPTERA: Cicindelidae]. This species was described by the American entomologist, Thomas Say in 1817. Yes, one year before Illinois became a state. The common name is big sand tiger beetle. There are 6 subspecies in North America. Our former member, Gordon Adams, collected this specimen in Peoria County, Illinois, in May, 1963.

For most tiger beetle species, both larvae and adults are predators and are often found in the same habitat. This species prefers dry sandy areas (often in upland areas) with little to no standing water. Both adults and larvae often feed on ants and simmilar sized arthropods. Larvae live in burrows and it may take 2 – 3 years to complete their life cycle.

Please let us know (via your comments) whether you like this systematic (yes, that was a pun) approach focusing on a single family or if you would prefer a more scattered approach.

Images below represent stacked photos (numerous photos). Please respect copyrights and contact us before using these for any purpose. Top image is dorsal view, middle image is lateral view, and bottom image is frontal view of this adult insect.