Big Sand Tiger Beetle
Cicindela formosa
Description 2
A large tiger beetle, up to 18 mm in length with a solid, blocky structure. Reddish-brown ground color and very bold markings. Complete pale margin around the wings is a useful field mark. (Cicindela tranquebarica, the species most likely to be confused with C. formosa, generally lacks this margin almost entirely.) A species of dry, sandy sites with sparse vegetation. Currently scare and local on the Vineyard. Tim Simmons, in a personal communication, reports that this species was common at Menemsha Hills in the 1980s and 1990s and also present then on dunes in Aquinnah. A cluster of observations in June 2021 came from dunes along the Vineyard Sound shore. A spring-fall species, probably most likely in late spring and early summer on Martha's Vineyard.
Sources and Credits
- (c) Matt Pelikan, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Matt Pelikan
- (c) Matt Pelikan, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)
