Cicindela albissima
| Cicindela albissima | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Coleoptera |
| Family: | Carabidae |
| Subfamily: | Cicindelinae |
| Genus: | Cicindela |
| Species: | C. albissima |
| Binomial name | |
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Cicindela albissima Rumpp, 1962 |
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Cicindela albissima, commonly called the Coral Pink Sand Dunes tiger beetle is a species of tiger beetle endemic to Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park in southern Utah, United States. It was originally described by Rumpp in 1962 as the subspecies Cicindela limbata albissima, but , along with the species' morphological and geographical distinctiveness, have shown that it is a separate species.C. albissima can be distinguished from other Cicindela species by its restricted range and lack of pigmentation on its elytra.
Adults are 10.5 millimetres (0.41 in) to 12 millimetres (0.47 in) long and 4.4 millimetres (0.17 in) to 4.7 millimetres (0.19 in) wide, while females are generally larger than males. The thorax is brown to bronze in color, while the elytra have reduced pigmentation and are white in color. Adults primarily eat flies and other arthropods found on the dunes. They also scavenge on dead arthropods blown onto the dunes from surrounding habitats.
Adults begin to emerge from the larval stage in March and reach their peak abundance in mid-April to early May. Adult populations decline through June and disappear by July. Mating and egg laying occur from the time adults emerge in mid-March until they die by July. Some adults can be continue to be found from late August to early October.
Adults are usually active on warm or sunny days. They dig burrows that they use at night and during unfavorable weather. Little evidence of parasitism has been observed on both adults and larvae. Throughout their lives, most adults move only small distances, typically less than 1,000 feet (300 m), although some have been observed to move up to 3,300 feet (1,000 m).
After first matings occur in early spring, first instar larvae begin to appear in late spring, usually completing the first instar by late May to June. Most individuals reach second instars by mid summer, and third instars are reached in fall. Larvae hibernate during the winter before emerging as adults the following spring. Larvae are sedentary and live in permanent burrows and feed by using their mandibles to catch arthropods that pass by the mouth of their burrows.
Cicindela albissima is endemic to twenty percent of the 3,500-acre (1,400 ha) Coral Pink Sand Dunes, which are within Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park in Kane County, Utah. Its occupied habitat is about 5,900 feet (1,800 m) long by 1,000 feet (300 m) wide. The dunes are about 7 miles (11 km) west of Kanab, and their southern extent is less than 1 mile (1.6 km) north of the Arizona border.
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Wikipedia