Tidal-tracking
Guides
Thinopinus pictus
Pictured Rove Beetle
Thinopinus pictus is a wingless rove beetle (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) endemic to sandy beaches along the Pacific coast of North America from southern Alaska to Baja California. Both larvae and adults are strictly nocturnal predators that emerge from temporary sand burrows at night to hunt beach hoppers (Orchestoidea). The species exhibits limited dispersal and predictable emergence patterns tied to tidal cycles, with populations forming a 15–30 meter wide band that shifts seaward during neap tides and landward during spring tides.