One variety of tiger beetle, Cicindela puritana , which might soon find itself on the endangered species list, lives along the banks of the Connecticut River throughout New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut.
As natural predators, tiger beetles eat just about anything they can catch. Gilbert said they dine on other beetles, hoppers, ants and caterpillars. Tiger beetles are also well-known to scavenge for their food and have been known to scavenge on vertebrate animals. Gilbert said that after seeking out the reason for the insect's staccato-style chase, the next research step is to learn about the sensitivity of the beetle's photoreceptors, which receive photons and then process those photons into the neurological information that is sent to the beetle's brain.
Through this research, he said, science will find out more about this biological tracking system, and he believes this knowledge may one day be used for optimizing artificial tracking systems.
With speed of movement, there's a trade-off. You want to move quickly to explore a large area, but if you move too fast for the optical sensors to gather enough information to form an image, the exploration is fruitless," said Gilbert.
Cole Gilbert holds a display of tiger beetle specimens. The tiger beetle, Cicindela repanda. Media Inquiries. This chapter may be freely reproduced and distributed for noncommercial purposes. Home Contribute Links. Methods I gathered information from professors and colleagues at the University of Florida about possible candidates.
The criteria established to determine the fastest insect are set as follows: At least five speed measurement runs must have occurred. The top speed of the insect must be within a plausible range compared to the multiple test runs. The methods and results must be published in a refereed journal.
Results I narrowed the field to three contenders for the fastest land insect: The American cockroach, Periplaneta americana The Australian tiger beetle, Cicindela hudsoni The Australian tiger beetle, C. Discussion Many insects travel at great speeds for their own insect order but did not fall within the criteria established. Acknowledgements I thank Dr. References Cited Adams J. Full, R. Kamoun, S. Flightlessness and rapid terrestrial locomotion in tiger beetles of the Cicindela L. E-mail correspondence.
Young, M. The Guinness Book of Records Bantam Books. New York. Gainesville, FL Green-tiger beetles can be found on sandy sites such as Lackford Lakes at this time of year, but spotting them might not be so easy, as the big bug eyes spot you before you spot it, and they are often seen flying away ahead of you.
But if you watch to see where it lands, you might be able to creep up on it slowly. Our insects are in trouble, but you can do your bit by taking a pledge to take ActionforInsects and downloading your free digital pack , full of ideas and tips to help these remarkable creatures.
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