Polypipe
Guides
Tetracha carolina
Carolina Metallic Tiger Beetle, Carolina Tiger Beetle
Tetracha carolina is a widely distributed tiger beetle species occurring across the southern United States, West Indies, Mexico, Central America, and western South America to Chile. Adults are strictly nocturnal, hiding during the day under cover objects such as irrigation pipes or in self-constructed burrows. The species has been observed to thrive in agricultural habitats, particularly in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain where it was once considered rare. It is one of four Tetracha species in the United States, distinguished from the similar T. floridana by purple or coppery reflections on the anteriolateral elytra and convergent anterior lobes of the apical lunules.