3 Rare North American Beetles
We truly hope that each of you greatly enjoy reading and learning from this article about 3 Rare North American Beetles. Each of them has a different story to tell, of course. The question that remains is who will listen, and fully appreciate the telling of it. Obviously, these few represent only the tiniest percentage of the various beetle species that inhabit this region. We do, however, feel that these serve as a good place to start if one wishes to learn about such creatures. So, sit back, and let the edification begin!
Salt Creek Tiger Beetle
Leading off this article about 3 Rare North American Beetles comes the astonishing species known appropriately as the Salt Creek Tiger Beetle.
Though undeniably lengthy, the term for this fascinating invertebrate represents the common name for a remarkable invertebrate. Despite its length, that term actually remains more easily pronounced than that of the scientific name of the species.
That’s because it bears the official name of the Cicindela nevadica lincolniana. By either of these tongue-twisting names, however, it has a singularly impressive story. Sadly, though, researchers still know very little about most of its life cycle.
First identified as a separate species in the early 20th century, no real study of it occurred until the mid-1980’s. At that time, though, a local university undertook the task of making the first detailed study and survey of the creature and its population.
Currently, its known population remains unknown, but totaled only 365 individuals in 2013. Despite this, the IUCN does not currently have a listing for the remarkable insect. It is, however, listed as Endangered by the country in which it appears.
Given such scant numbers, the impressive Salt Creek Tiger Beetle must be considered to be facing many severe risks to is existence. Habitat loss remains a serious danger, of course. Its greatest, though, most likely consists of the effects of climate change.
Salt Creek Tiger Beetle Physical Description
While the awesome Salt Creek Tiger Beetle remains a highly remarkable species, it doesn’t hold that status due to its sheer physical size. In point of fact, this scientifically fascinating arthropod actually ranks as only a small-to-moderate sized form of beetle.
It does, though, like many of its kind, display a slight degree of the physiological characteristic of sexual dimorphism. In the case of this specific invertebrate, though, this trait manifests itself in terms of something other than size of coloring.
Males possess a thin covering of fine white hairs on the body and legs. Their female counterparts, however, completely lack this feature. In all other respects the genders appear virtually indistinguishable, with an appearance quite different from most related species.
Precise coloring of the Salt Creek Tiger Beetle varies between individuals. This mainly consists of shades of metallic brown to a dark olive green on the upper side. On the bottom, though, the creature generally displays a dark metallic green shade, but variations exist.
One of North America’s rarer longhorned beetles
Here are dorsal and lateral views of the only specimen I’ve ever collected of Neoclytus approximatus—one of North America’s most uncommonly encountered longhorned beetles. I collected it on dead Pinus echinata in southeastern Missouri (Carter Co.) way back on June 7, 1987 (just over 34 years ago!), but I believe that is only an incidental record and not a larval host for the species considering that the species has been recorded from primarily the U.S. Great Plains (North Dakota south to Texas, east to Iowa and Missouri, and west to Colorado)—a region mostly devoid of native pines.
What it does breed in remains a mystery. I’ve seen a number of specimens collected in the city of St. Louis, Missouri in the 1930s with U.S.D.A. eugenol-baited Japanese beetle trap, although my own efforts with Japanese beetle traps in St. Louis during the 1980s turned up no specimens. Another Missouri specimen bore a label saying “Monarda” (a genus of flowering plants called “bee balms”)—perhaps referring to the flower of the plant (MacRae 1994). This latter record may suggest the species breeds in herbaceous plants rather than woody plants—which some longhorned beetles are known to do, and its apparent distribution across the Great Plains makes this idea even more tenable.
The beetle is only found in a few remnant saline marshes near Lincoln, Nebraska. The salt creek tiger beetle is one of the rarest insects in the world and occupies one of the most restricted ranges of any insect in the United States.
