Northeastern Beach Tiger Beetle

Cicindela dorsalis dorsalis

Description

The northeastern beach tiger beetle is a small, handsome, sand-colored beetle. Its wing covers (or elytra) are colored whitish to light-tan, and are usually marked with fine dark lines. The head and thorax are colored bronze-green. The body length ranges from 0.5 to 0.6 in (13 to 16 mm). It has long, sickle-like mandibles (mouthparts), which are used to grasp its invertebrate prey. The larvae are also predatory and similarly equipped. It takes two years for the larva to develop into an adult.

Behavior

The adult northeastern beach tiger beetle over-winters in a burrow it digs in the sand. It emerges in June and is active through August to early September. This beetle relies on the sun to regulate its body temperature, and spends the early morning and late afternoon basking. It burrows into the sand at night for protection and to conserve energy. The northeastern beach tiger beetle is largely a scavenger, feeding on dead crabs and fish, but will also prey on live amphipods or small flies.

Habitat

The northeastern beach tiger beetle inhabits sparsely vegetated, finely sandy, coastal beaches.

Distribution

The northeastern beach tiger beetle occurs in the northeastern United States, and has been reported from Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia. The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) considers this species Threatened in Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Virginia.

Threats

The northeastern beach tiger beetle has declined greatly in range and abundance due to the destruction of much of its original habitat, mostly through its conversion into land-uses for residential, commercial, and industrial purposes. Habitat damage has also been caused by trampling by people and all-terrain vehicles, the construction of erosion-control structures, the spraying of insecticides to control mosquitoes, and other disturbances. The decline of the northeastern beach tiger beetle has been especially severe in northern parts of its range; it no longer occurs north of Virginia. The largest remaining populations, albeit in declining numbers, occur on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland and Virginia. More than 50 sites still occur in the Chesapeake Bay area, of which about half have more than 100 adults, and 16 have more than 500 adults.

Conservation and Recovery

Numerous habitats of the northeastern beach tiger beetle have been conserved in parks and other kinds of protected areas. However, there is still ongoing habitat damage through trampling and other human activities. It is essential that the critical habitats of this rare beetle are better protected from these and other ongoing stresses, or the populations will probably become extirpated. The FWS has been introducing the northeastern tiger beetle to suitable beach habitat in the Gateway National Recreation Area in New Jersey, a state where the species had been extirpated. If the habitat is suitably protected, this program could probably be expanded to increase the range and abundance of the northeastern beach tiger beetle.

Contact

U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Regional Office, Division of Endangered Species
300 Westgate Center Dr.
Hadley, Massachusetts 01035-9589
Telephone: (413) 253-8200
Fax: (413) 253-8308
http://www.northeast.fws.gov/

Endangered Species Unit
New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation
108 Game Farm Road
Delmar, New York 12054

References

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. 1998. Northeastern Beach Tiger Beetle Fact Sheet. http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/wildlife/endspec/nbtbfs.html

Luebke, J. I. and D. R. Beatty. 1987. "Natural history and population decline of the coastal tiger beetle. Cicindela dorsalis dorsalis Say (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae)." Virginia Journal of Science 38(4):293-303.