FWS Focus

Overview

Characteristics
Overview

Tiger beetles are a family of insects that are quick and voracious predators, capturing other invertebrates in a tiger-like manner. The Puritan tiger beetle, brownish bronze above with a metallic blue underside and narrow white lines on each wing, measures under half an inch in length. They can be found on sandy beaches and eroding cliffs along the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland and the Connecticut River in New England.

Puritan tiger beetles have disappeared from much of their New England range and have declined in population size and distribution in their Chesapeake Bay range. The remaining Chesapeake Bay populations are highly susceptible to habitat loss or degradation due to shoreline development and bluff stabilization. Shoreline structures have been found to destroy the larval habitat directly or by promoting vegetation on cliff faces making the cliffs unsuitable for the larvae. Natural threats include flooding, parasites and insect predators.

Scientific Name

Cicindela puritana
Common Name
Puritan Tiger Beetle
FWS Category
Insects
Kingdom

Location in Taxonomic Tree

Identification Numbers

TSN:

Characteristics

Characteristic category

Physical Characteristics

Characteristics
Physical Characteristics

Puritan tiger beetles use their long legs to their advantage, running quickly in the sand to capture prey in their sharp jaws. These beetles alternate between bursts of foraging activity and periods of standing still. Along the Chesapeake Bay, adult Puritan tiger beetles are first seen in the summer when they emerge to feed and mate along the beach area. After mating the females fly up to the top of cliffs to deposit their eggs. Newly hatched larvae construct burrows in the cliffs and pass through 3 larval stages before metamorphosing in the adult form.

Color & Pattern

The Puritan tiger beetle is long-legged and thin, brownish bronze above, with a metallic blue underside, and narrow white lines on each wing, measures less than half an inch in length. In sunlight it appears whitish and shining.

Characteristic category

Behavior

Characteristics
Behavior

Puritan tiger beetles use their long legs to their advantage, running quickly in the sand to capture prey in their sharp jaws. These beetles alternate between bursts of foraging activity and periods of standing still. Along the Chesapeake Bay, adult Puritan tiger beetles are first seen in the summer when they emerge to feed and mate along the beach area. After mating, the females fly up to the top of cliffs to deposit their eggs. Newly-hatched larvae construct burrows in the cliffs and pass through three larval stages before metamorphosing in the adult form.

Characteristic category

Life Cycle

Characteristics
Life Span

Puritan tiger beetles complete their life cycle in two years.

Characteristic category

Habitat

Characteristics
Habitat

The Puritan tiger beetle is found in only two small regions, including the Connecticut River Valley in New England and along the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. The Puritan tiger beetle populations in these two regions have probably been separated for thousands of years and as a result have developed significant genetic and ecological differences.

Due to the nature of their life cycle, Puritan tiger beetle habitats are limited to sandy beaches along rivers and naturally eroding cliffs where there is little to no vegetation. In Maryland, the larvae occupy deep burrows after digging in sandy areas or non-vegetated portions of the bluff face or at the base of the cliffs. They are most abundant at sites where the bluffs are long and high with little or no vegetation. 

Coastal
Rural

Geography

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Timeline

Explore the information available for this taxon's timeline. You can select an event on the timeline to view more information, or cycle through the content available in the carousel below.

6 Items

Listing

Listing

Five Year Review

Five Year Review

Five Year Review

Technical Correction

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Listing

Oct 2, 1989

Oct 2, 1989 Listing (Threatened)
ETWP; Proposal to Determine Threatened Status for the Puritan Tiger Beetle and Endangered Status for…
  • Publication type: Proposed
  • Population:
Item 1

Listing

Aug 7, 1990

Aug 7, 1990 Listing (Threatened)
ETWP; Determination of Threatened Status for the Puritan Tiger Beetle and the Northeastern Beach Tig…
  • Publication type: Final
  • Population:
Item 2

Five Year Review

Apr 21, 2006

Apr 21, 2006 Five Year Review (Information Solicitation)
Initiation of a 5-Year Review of Nine Listed Species: the Purple Bean (Villosa perpurpurea), Clubshe…
  • Publication type: Notice
  • Population:
Item 3

Five Year Review

Jun 8, 2011

Jun 8, 2011 Five Year Review (Information Solicitation)
Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Initiation of 5-Year Reviews of Nine Species: Purple…
  • Publication type: Notice
  • Population:
Item 4

Five Year Review

Aug 8, 2018

Aug 8, 2018 Five Year Review (Information Solicitation)
Initiation of 5-Year Reviews of 19 Northeastern Species
  • Publication type: Notice
  • Population:
Item 5

Technical Correction

Oct 15, 2021

Oct 15, 2021 Technical Correction
Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Technical Corrections for Northeast Species
  • Publication type: Direct Final
  • Population:
Item 6