Techniques for Studying Tiger Beetles - Collecting

The best way to locate interesting places for observing and collecting tiger beetles is to read what other people have written about them and their habitats. To locate this type of information there are several possibilities. The results of other people's insect investigations can be found in the form of lists of insects (state, county, and local), species revisions, and other articles published in various entomological magazines and journals.

You can also find information on productive localities for insect study in the collections of other entomologists and museums. The specimen data labels will give you precise information on where, when (and sometimes how) to look for interesting tiger beetle species. Guidelines for arranging visits to an institutional collection can be found in the Beginner's Guide to Observing and Collecting Insects, page 82. (Click here for information) Of course you can also seek information directly from other insect observers and collectors, at entomology club meetings, or through the mail.

As your interest in insects continues to grow, you will want to seek out new, unexplored areas to locate tiger beetles for study. Finding these new areas is important because it helps expand our knowledge on the abundance and distribution of the various species and subspecies. Seeking out new areas does not necessarily mean going to far away places! Don't overlook interesting places right in your own local area. After all, who is better suited to explore the tiger beetles of your own area that you.

If you plan on traveling to other areas to observe or collect tiger beetles, you will want to do some advance planning with the help of maps. While road maps and road atlases will guide you as you travel, they lack the detailed information needed to pick good study sites. Topographic maps and specialty maps (of parks and counties, for example), although highly detailed, are often expensive or difficult to obtain. The perfect solution can be found in a unique collection of maps known as a "State Atlas and Gazateer". Every insect collector and observer should be familiar with these map books because they are an invaluable aid for helping locate potential sites for studying insects. These map books will guide you to remote areas, seldom used backroads and trails, and outdoor recreation sites. The maps feature topographic and natural features (habitat) information, as well as unique natural features, forests, campgrounds, hiking trails, and museums. They're like a complete set of topographic maps and touring information in one book (at a fraction of the cost!). Because of their usefulness for planning insect study trips, the Minibeast Merchandise Mall makes these map books available to insect enthusiasts by mailorder.

Another option for observing or collecting tiger beetles, especially in foreign countries, is to join an organized field trip. A list of the individuals and companies that run field trips or have lodging for traveling entomologists can be found in the Insect Study Sourcebook (click here for information).

 The techniques for collecting adult tiger beetles varies by genus.  Members of the genus Cicindela are diurnal, whereas members of the genera Megacephala, Omus and Amblychila are primarily nocturnal.  These differences in behavior translate into two several distinctly different approaches to collecting tiger beetles.

It is best to hunt for Cicindela on warm (greater then 70 degrees F), sunny  days.  Once you arrive at an area of suitable habitat, "patrol" the area with net in hand.  The preferred habitats of Cicindela are variable and include beaches, paths and trails, dunes, mud flats, alkali flats, roadcuts and banks, and openings in woods and meadows.  As you walk about the area you may suddenly flush out unseen beetles.  These beetles are very active runners and flyers and take some skillful crouching, stalking and use of the net to catch.  Most people prefer to carefully approach the beetle (with your body as low to the ground as possible), getting with 3 feet or so and then suddenly lunging forward and slapping the net quickly over the beetle.  You'll often wind up on your knees or belly, but in any event keep that net sealed tightly to the ground.  Quickly locate the beetle beneath the net and immobilize it as soon as possible.  These beetles are great net escape artists!  Holding the beetle from outside the net, reach it and remove it beetle with your other hand.  Place the beetle in your collecting jar.

 Some species of Cicindela can be attracted to lights at night, so setting up a blacklight or portable lantern (an ordinary propane camp lantern will so nicely) in an area of beetle habitat can be quite interesting and rewarding.  At night the beetles can actually be caught by hand as they sit on the ground in the lighted area!  Don't forget to check other bright lights such as billboards, street lights, and the like for the presence of beetles.

Occasionally some species of Cicindela can be caught in pitfall traps placed in their respective habitats.  Because these active beetles can escape from simple pitfalls .it is necessary to use a two cup trap system: a large outer cup sunk in the ground filled with a nested inner cup that has a 1/2 hole in the bottom along the outside edge.  The beetles will go down the hole and be caught in the area between the two nested cups.

Barrier-stlye pitfall trap set in a tiger beetle habitat

Megacephala are best collected at night.  Patrol a suitable area (river bank, mudflat or bare ground) with a headlamp or lantern.  You should also check around areas illuminated by street lights, billboards and other outdoor lighting.  These beetles may be seen scavenging and you may have some luch attracting them with bits of hamburger meat or chicken bones.

These beetles can also be found during the day by looking under boards, logs, and stones in areas of suitable habitat.  It is also not uncommon to see them walking about on cloudy, often wet, days.

These tiger beetles are easily taken in pitfall traps and cannot escape from simple, single cup pitfall traps (they don't fly and are poor climbers).

These black tiger beetles are nocturnal and can sometimes be found by searching the forest with a headlamp or lantern.  However, you will probably have better luck by pitfall trapping (they're flightless).  A little hamburger meat as a pitfall bait may improve the performance of traps. You can also locate beetles by searching beneath logs along the edge of the forest or forest openings.

These large reddish-brown tiger beetles are nocturnal and can sometimes be found by searching the prairies and other arid areas with a headlamp or lantern.  However, you will probably have better luck by pitfall trapping (they're flightless).  They are rarely seen during the day and often hide beneath the ground in animal burrows.  Most of the areas inhabitated by these beetles are also inhabitated by rattlesnakes, so use caution when hunting for beetles!

The techniques for collecting larval tiger beetles is essentially the same for all genera.  The larvae construct burroqws in the soil, often in areas adjacent to where adult beetles are found.  The burrows of larval tiger beetles vary considerably in size (depending on the growth stage of the larva and the species) but generally range from 1/16 to 1/4 inch in diameter.  The burrows can be distinguished by the smooth rim (with any sand grains or soil scattered away from the burrow entrance by a distance of  1/2 inch or more.  (The beetle larva toss the excavated soil away from the burrow so as not to interfere with their method of ambush hunting.)  The larvae of some southwestern beetles construct elevated turrets and these are easily seen from a distance.

The larvae are very shy and drop to the bottonm of their burrow at the slightest hint of danger, so even after you've located some burrows (and they can often be very plentiful in areas of prime habitat) the fun is only beginning.  Now you must get the larva out of its burrow.  There are two ways to do this: tease the larva out with a small grass stem inserted into the burrow (you need to convince them its food so they'll grab on to it), or dig them out.  The latter method is not as easy as it sounds, as the burrows are often very long, in very loose (or conversely, very hard soil).  You will probably want to insert a grass stem down the length of the burrow, so that when the tunnel colapses as you dig you can still locate the bottom of the burrow.  Digging also causes considerable habitat damage, so try to restore the area before leaving.

Sooner or later you will want to travel farther away from home in search of tiger beetles to observe and collect. You will discover that tiger beetles abound just about everywhere you go. In fact, the only limitation you will encounter is determined by the legal ownership of the land, and not the availability of quality beetle habitats.

Information on collecting regulations and permits can be found in  the Beginners Guide to Observing and Collecting Insects (click here for information).

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This educational resource was prepared by the Young Entomologists Society, 6907 West Grand River Ave., Lansing MI 48906-9131, phone/fax 517-886-0630, e-mail YESbugs@aol.com.  Support minibeast youth education - join Y.E.S. today!