Cicindela

Cicindela, commonly known as common tiger beetles, are generally brightly colored and metallic beetles, often with some sort of patterning of ivory or cream-colored markings. They are most abundant and diverse in habitats very often near bodies of water with sandy or occasionally clay soils; they can be found along rivers, sea and lake shores, sand dunes, around dry lakebeds, on clay banks, or woodland paths.
Etymology
The word "Cicindela" comes from the Latin word "cicindela", meaning "glowworm". This comes from the fact that members of the genus Cicindela are metallic and sometimes flashing.
Systematics
The genus Cicindela is (in its broadest historical sense) the largest genus of tiger beetles, and they occur worldwide. The status of the genus is constantly in a state of flux, as various authorities on different continents have vastly different opinions about which (if any) of the dozens of subgenera traditionally recognized within the genus are deserving of being accorded status as independent genera. Moreover, this is one of the few insect taxa in which the rank of subspecies has traditionally been used repeatedly, and essentially no two classifications consistently treat the various members of the genus as to which are species and which are subspecies.
Treated as a single genus, and even with a fairly conservative estimate of species, there are over 850 (or even up to 2,300) species in the group (thus being almost equal to the subtribe Cicindelina (W.Horn, 1908), with several thousand published names applied, collectively. Currently most of the subgenera below are not settled, being considered genera of their own by some, and subgenera of the genus Cicindela by others. The genus is divided into the following subgenera:
Cicindela (Ancylia)
Cicindela (Archidela)
Cicindela (Austrocicindela)
Cicindela (Brasiella)
Cicindela (Calochroa)
Cicindela (Calomera)
Cicindela (Cephalota)
Cicindela (Chaetodera)
Cicindela (Cicindela)
Cicindela (Cicindelidia)
Cicindela (Cosmodela)
Cicindela (Cylindera)
Cicindela (Duponti)
Cicindela (Euzona)
Cicindela (Fulgoris)
Cicindela (Habroscelimorpha)
Cicindela (Hypaetha)
Cicindela (Jansonia)
Cicindela (Lophyridia)
Cicindela (Macfarlandia)
Cicindela (Micromentignatha)
Cicindela (Myriochile)
Cicindela (Neolaphyra)
Cicindela (Opilidia)
Cicindela (Pachydela)
Cicindela (Pancallia)
Cicindela (Rivacindela)
Cicindela (Sophiodela)
Cicindela (Tribonia)
For a list of species, see List of Cicindela species.
The subgenus Cicindela (Cicindela), or Cicindela sensu stricto contains the following species:
Cicindela albissima Rumpp, 1962
Cicindela altaica Eschscholtz, 1829
Cicindela amargosae Dahl, 1939
Cicindela ancocisconensis T.W.Harris, 1852
Cicindela arenicola Rumpp, 1967
Cicindela arida A.C.Davis, 1928
Cicindela asiatica Audouin & Brullé, 1839
Cicindela bellissima Leng, 1902
Cicindela campestris Linnaeus, 1758
Cicindela carolae Gage & McKown, 1991
Cicindela clypeata Fischer von Waldheim, 1821
Cicindela coerulea Pallas, 1773
Cicindela colasiana Deuve, 2019
Cicindela columbica Hatch, 1938
Cicindela cyprensis Mandl, 1944
Cicindela decemnotata Say, 1817
Cicindela denikei Brown, 1934
Cicindela denverensis Casey, 1897
Cicindela depressula Casey, 1897
Cicindela desertorum Dejean, 1825
Cicindela duodecimguttata Dejean, 1825
Cicindela formosa Say, 1817
Cicindela fulgida Say, 1823
Cicindela gallica Brullé, 1834
Cicindela gemmata Faldermann, 1835
Cicindela georgiensis Deuve, 2011
Cicindela granulata Gebler, 1843
Cicindela herbacea Klug, 1832
Cicindela hirticollis Say, 1817
Cicindela hybrida Linnaeus, 1758
Cicindela iberica Mandl, 1935
Cicindela japana Motschulsky, 1858
Cicindela javetii Chaudoir, 1861
Cicindela lacteola Pallas, 1776
Cicindela lagunensis Gautier des Cottes, 1872
Cicindela latesignata LeConte, 1851
Cicindela lengi W.Horn, 1908
Cicindela lewisii Bates, 1873
Cicindela limbalis Klug, 1834
Cicindela limbata Say, 1823
Cicindela longilabris Say, 1824
Cicindela lusitanica Mandl, 1935
Cicindela majalis Mandl, 1935
Cicindela maritima Dejean, 1822
Cicindela maroccana Fabricius, 1801
Cicindela monticola Ménétriés, 1832
Cicindela montreuli Deuve, 2012
Cicindela nebraskana Casey, 1909
Cicindela nigrior Schaupp, 1884
Cicindela nordmanni Chaudoir, 1848
Cicindela ohlone Freitag & Kavanaugh, 1993
Cicindela oregona LeConte, 1856
Cicindela parowana Wickham, 1905
Cicindela patruela Dejean, 1825
Cicindela pimeriana LeConte, 1867
Cicindela plutonica Casey, 1897
Cicindela pugetana Casey, 1914
Cicindela pulchra Say, 1823
"Cicindela punctulata" Olivier, 1790
Cicindela purpurea Olivier, 1790
Cicindela repanda Dejean, 1825
Cicindela resplendens Dokhtouroff, 1887
Cicindela restricta Fischer von Waldheim, 1828
Cicindela rhodoterena Tschitscherine, 1903
Cicindela sachalinensis A.Morawitz, 1862
Cicindela sahlbergii Fischer von Waldheim, 1824
Cicindela scutellaris Say, 1823
Cicindela senilis G.Horn, 1867
Cicindela sexguttata Fabricius, 1775
Cicindela soluta Dejean, 1822
Cicindela songorica Motschulsky, 1845
Cicindela splendida Hentz, 1830
Cicindela sylvatica Linnaeus, 1758
Cicindela sylvicola Dejean, 1822
Cicindela talychensis Chaudoir, 1846
Cicindela tenuicincta Schaupp, 1884
Cicindela theatina Rotger, 1944
Cicindela tranquebarica Herbst, 1806
Cicindela transbaicalica Motschulsky, 1844
Cicindela transversalis Dejean, 1822
Cicindela turkestanica Ballion, 1871
Cicindela waynei Leffler, 2001
Cicindela willistoni LeConte, 1879
Gallery
Notes
References
Northeastern Tiger Beetles: A Field Guide to Tiger Beetles of New England and Eastern Canada by Jonathan G. Leonard and Ross T. Bell. CRC Press (1999).
Tiger Beetles of Alberta: Killers on the Clay, Stalkers on the Sand by John Acorn. University of Alberta Press, 2001.
Tiger Beetles: The Evolution, Ecology, and Diversity of the Cicindelids by David L. Pearson and Alfried P. Vogler. Cornell University Press, 2001.
A Field Guide to the Tiger Beetles of the United States and Canada by David L. Pearson, C. Barry Knisley and Charles J. Kazilek. Oxford University Press, 2005.
External links
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus