Metallic green bug
Location: Waterloo, Ontario
August 12, 2011 5:31 pm
Any idea what these are? I saw several of them while walking in the woods on an overcast day. They were 1-2cm long. The bright metallic green colour really made them stand out. It was nice to see more than just mosquitoes!
Signature: Andrew

Six Spotted Tiger Beetle

Hi Andrew,
This is a predatory Six Spotted Tiger Beetle, Cicindela sexguttata, and we typically get the most identification requests in the spring, though BugGuide does list sightings as late as September and even October.  Your multiple sightings this late in the season is significant, though we are not exactly certain how to process that information.  Perhaps global climate change is not a myth.  The iris and tomatoes were dismal this year in the garden outside our Southern California office after all,  and the huajes are currently late.

Metalic green bug
Location: Southern Illinois
June 2, 2011 7:19 pm
I use your site often to identify bugs and butterflies often. I have sent mystery bugs to you in the past as well. I do a lot of nature photography and I find the insect world a facinating place. Last week end we were hiking in Southern Illinois in Garden of the gods State Park. We kept seeing these bright green bugs on the path. I couldn’t get real close to look, I got a couple pictures that didn’t blur. I am just not sure what catagory to use to identify them. They flew and were very fast on their feet. I was not sure if they were a beetle or not. They were about 3/4 of an inch long. Can you help me identify my green friend?
Signature: Janet Fox

Six Spotted Tiger Beetle

Hi Janet,
We will be out of the office for a week and we are preparing your photo to post live to our site on June 11.  This gem-like beauty is a predatory Six Spotted Tiger Beetle, and we often get identification requests for them in the early spring.

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Six-Spotted Tiger Beetle
Location: Toledo, OH
May 29, 2011 12:51 pm
I can’t help but ponder why the Six-Spotted Tiger Beetle has eight spots… Ah well. These guys are out in full force, and I’ve never really seen them so prevalent. I wish I had a better handle on my new macro lens so that they were a bit more sharp and less grainy. Ah well, I’ll get there! Some impressive jaws on this guy.
Signature: Katy

Six Spotted Tiger Beetle

Hi Katy,
To make things even more confusing, some individuals of Six Spotted Tiger Beetles have no spots.  We feel the quality of your images is perfectly fine.

Six Spotted Tiger Beetle

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Bug love
Location: Cheviot Hills, northern England
May 10, 2011 5:49 pm
Two insects of a type I’ve never seen before getting friendly. I was just wondering what they were.
Gary
Signature: kkjhkj

Mating Green Tiger Beetles

Hi Gary,
These amorous beauties are mating Tiger Beetles in the genus Cicindela, and they are most likely Cicindela campestris, commonly called the Green Tiger Beetle.  We quickly located a webpage on British Biodiversity that profiles the Green Tiger Beetle and that provides this information:  “They show greater diversity in the warmer parts of the world and only five species of tiger beetle are known in Britain (current British checklist of the Carabidae at http://www.coleopterist.org.uk/). Of these, four are Cicindela species, with C. campestris much the most common.
Tiger beetles constitute the subfamily Cicindelinae within the family Carabidae, or are still recognised by some authors as a separate family, the Cicindelidae. C. campestris is, like most Cicindela species, a creature of open ground, especially heathland on sandy soils in spring and early summer, locally frequent apparently in much of Britain where there is suitable habitat. It runs fast when seizing prey, or if disturbed (or if someone is chasing it in the hope of an in-focus photograph), and it will also readily fly for short distances.”  In addition to England, the species is found over much of Eurasia as far East as Siberia.

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