Cicindelidia

Members of Cicindelidia can be distinguished from related tiger beetle genera by combinations of morphological characters including elytral sculpturing, pronotal setation patterns, and coloration. The abdominalis species-group is characterized by small size, red venters, and smooth or punctured elytra depending on species. C. scabrosa and C. floridana exhibit distinctly punctured elytra and dense lateral pronotal setae, while C. abdominalis and C. highlandensis have smooth elytra and glabrous or finely setose pronota. C. politula is recognized by shiny black to blue-black elytra with white markings absent or limited to apices. C. haemorrhagica shows minimal morphological differentiation but is ecologically distinct in thermal spring habitats.

Habitat associations are highly variable across species and often diagnostic. C. haemorrhagica is exclusively associated with thermal springs in Yellowstone National Park, occupying barren soils with gradual slopes (less than 5°) toward thermal water at pH 2.7–9.0 and temperatures 29.1–75.0°C. C. politula occurs on exposed limestone road banks and outcrops in dry to xeric upland habitats. C. floridana is restricted to pine rockland habitat with open sandy patches in Miami-Dade County. C. scabrosa occupies sand pine scrub on well-drained, infertile sandy soils. C. highlandensis is endemic to remnant sand scrub and pine woodland habitats on the Lake Wales Ridge. C. obsoleta vulturina occurs on lichen-covered sandstone balds and prairie glades.

The genus is primarily North American in distribution. C. haemorrhagica occurs in western thermal spring areas including Yellowstone National Park, California, and New Mexico, with additional records from wet salt lakes, lakes, ponds, rivers, sea beaches, and tidal flats outside YNP. C. politula occurs primarily in Texas with extensions into Oklahoma. C. floridana is endemic to Miami, Florida. C. scabrosa is distributed across peninsular Florida north of Miami-Dade County, extending slightly into southeastern Georgia. C. highlandensis is restricted to Polk and Highlands Counties, Florida. C. abdominalis ranges across the southeastern U.S. Coastal Plain from New Jersey to Louisiana. C. marginipennis occurs from New Brunswick, Canada to Alabama.

Activity periods vary by species and climate. C. haemorrhagica shows daytime activity with nocturnal activity limited to air temperatures above 15.5°C. C. floridana is active during warmer months with peak activity in spring. C. scabrosa and C. highlandensis are summer species with peak adult activity in July and August. C. obsoleta vulturina shows fall emergence in the White River Hills region. C. politula appears in late September in northern Texas and Oklahoma.

Larvae of most species construct vertical burrows in sandy or appropriate soils; C. haemorrhagica larvae burrow in thermal soils near springs or pools. C. marginipennis larvae produce distinctive 'throw piles' of excavated soil that serve as search images for locating burrows. Larval instars have been described for C. marginipennis, showing characteristic morphology including white-margined pronotum in Tetracha (historically congeneric). The species can be reared in captivity with appropriate soil and temperature conditions.

Adults are active predators that forage visually. C. haemorrhagica exhibits thermoregulatory behavior, spending most time on substrates at 30–40°C and showing resistance to high temperatures; adults have been recorded on surfaces exceeding 50°C and up to 61.5°C at Rabbit Creek. The species shows minimal phototaxis, making light trapping ineffective. C. politula adults are extremely wary and difficult to approach, exhibiting rapid escape flights and evasive behaviors. C. floridana adults are flighty and difficult to observe, becoming more so as temperatures rise; they exhibit mate-guarding behavior with males riding on females' backs. Many species show 'stilting' behavior—elevating bodies on long legs to minimize thermal exposure in hot environments.

C. haemorrhagica functions as an apex invertebrate predator in Yellowstone thermal spring food webs, bioaccumulating heavy metals and metalloids from prey with bioaccumulation factors of at least 10-fold for most metals and 9.7-fold for arsenic. The species facilitates transfer of metals from aquatic invertebrate prey to terrestrial food chains, contributing to biomagnification through the trophic web.

Several species are of conservation concern. C. floridana is critically endangered and a candidate for federal listing, having been rediscovered in 2011 after being presumed extinct for over 50 years; it survives in tiny urban habitat fragments. C. highlandensis is one of Florida's rarest endemic tiger beetles with extremely restricted range. C. marginipennis is state-listed as threatened or endangered throughout its U.S. range and receives periodic consideration for federal listing due to habitat decline. C. obsoleta vulturina represents a disjunct population of conservation interest in the White River Hills. The genus is popular among tiger beetle collectors and photographers, with some species requiring specialized search techniques including blacklighting for nocturnal species.

• CicindelaHistorically, Cicindelidia was treated as a subgenus of Cicindela; the two genera share tiger beetle morphology but differ in pronotal structure, elytral sculpturing patterns, and male genitalia characters that justify generic separation
• TetrachaTetracha species are nocturnal and larger-bodied with distinctive larval morphology including white-margined pronotum; historically congeneric with some Cicindelidia species but now recognized as distinct based on adult and larval characters
• EllipsopteraEllipsoptera species often co-occur with Cicindelidia in sandy habitats and share similar size ranges, but differ in elytral maculation patterns and habitat preferences; E. hirtilabris co-occurs with C. scabrosa in Florida sand pine scrub

• Coleoptera
• Cicindelidae
• tiger beetles
• North America
• thermal springs
• endemic species
• conservation
• sand habitats
• pine rockland
• limestone habitats
• predatory beetles
• metal bioaccumulation
• abdomenalis species-group
• Florida endemics
• Yellowstone National Park
• riparian habitats
• cobblestone habitats
• prairie habitats
• xeric habitats
• fire-adapted habitats
• endangered species
• rediscovered species
• larval burrows
• thermoregulation
• photography subjects
• collecting interest

• BugGuide
• GBIF taxonomy match
• iNaturalist taxon
• NCBI Taxonomy
• Catalogue of Life
• Photographing the Newly Rediscovered Cicindelidia floridana | Beetles In The Bush
• The (almost) Florida-endemic Cicindelidia scabrosa | Beetles In The Bush
• Revisiting the Highlands tiger beetle (Cicindelidia highlandensis) | Beetles In The Bush
• Cicindelidae | Beetles In The Bush | Page 10
• Just repanda… er, wait a minute… | Beetles In The Bush
• Photographing the Limestone Tiger Beetle | Beetles In The Bush
• Habitat Characteristics, Distribution, and Abundance of Cicindelidia haemorrhagica (LeConte) (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae) in Yellowstone National Park
• Habitat, Distribution, Biology, and Conservation of the Miami Tiger Beetle, Cicindelidia floridana (Cartwright) (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Cicindelinae)
• Figure 1: Map of Yellowstone National Park indicating Cicindelidia haemorrhagica habitat and research locations including Dragon-Beowulf Hot Springs and Rabbit Creek Hot Spring.
• Determining Type Locality Habitat and Historic Land Use at Current Sites of the Miami Tiger Beetle, Cicindelidia floridana (Cartwright) (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Cicindelinae)
• First Account of Phylogeographic Variation, Larval Characters, and Laboratory Rearing of the Endangered Cobblestone Tiger Beetle Cicindelidia marginipennis, Dejean, 1831 with Observations of Their Natural History
• Thermal profiles of Cicindelidia haemorrhagica (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae) activity in hot springs in Yellowstone National Park