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- Beetles in this family usually have a flat body. They have long legs and
running fast. Most of them are predators with prominent mandibles and palps,
They hunt for small insects either on ground or on tree trunks. Some of them
are flightless. Most are active at night. Most produce defensive
secretions.
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- Most of their larvae are also predators, some
hunting on leaves, others burrowing in soil or rotting wood. They feed on
eggs, larvae and pupa of other insects. Some other Carabid larvae are
scavengers.
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- We found one species in the family. It is
belong to the subfamily
Cicindelinae. The beetles in this subfamily are also known as Tiger
Beetles.
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- Subfamily
Cicindelinae, body length 20mm
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- We found this Tiger Beetle
waiting for prey on smooth gum tree trunk in Karawatha Forest during mid
summer. It flied away when we came closer. It came back to the same tree
trunk after we waited for a short while.
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- The beetle was grayish-black in
colour with white zigzag line across the back.
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- The
beetle ran fast on tree trunk. It has long legs, large eyes and large jaws for
predation. It chases after small insects on gum tree trunk.
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- This
Tiger Beetle is common on large smooth bark gum tree trunk in Karawatha
Forest. The beetle preys on ants. It is usually found resting 1-1.5 meter above
ground on tree trunk. They are active during the day.
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- Reference:
- 1. Insects
of Australia, CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University
Press, 2nd Edition 1991, p 613.
- 2. Insects of Australia and New Zealand - R. J. Tillyard, Angus
& Robertson, Ltd, Sydney, 1926, p192 and Plate 17.
- 3. CARABIDAE - Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, 2002.
- 4. Distipsidera undulata Westwood, 1837 - Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, 2002.
- 5. A guide to the Genera of Beetles of South Australia Part.1 -
Matthews, E.G., 1980, p7.
- 6. Taxonomic Revision of the Australian Cicindelidae (Coleoptera), excluding Species of Cicindela
- Ruth Frances McCairns, Richard Freitag, H. A. Rose and F. J. D. McDonald, Invertebrate Taxonomy 11(4) 599 - 688, 1997.
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