beetle that comes within reach and dragging it

into their tunnel.

Most tiger beetles are diurnal, and are

characteristic insects of river margins and lake

shores, sand dunes, and savanna, preferring warm

places with well-drained soil for the larval burrows.

Some species live in tropical rainforests, even in the

tree canopy, where they hunt on leaves, flying rapidly

above | Therates dimidiatus wallacei

Named after the explorer and

evolutionary biologist Alfred Russel

Wallace (1823–1913), this subspecies

is photographed on a leaf in a forest

park in Singapore.

opposite | Manticora latipennis One

of the world’s largest tiger beetles,

seen here tackling a grasshopper in

Gorongosa, Mozambique, Africa.

right | Cicindela chinensis japonica

(Japanese Tiger Beetle) This

subspecies of the widespread

East Asian Cicindela chinensis is

found in southern Japan, as far

north as Tokyo.

from branch to branch in patches of sunlight.

The largest genera, such as the widespread

Megacephala and the African Manticora, are flightless

terrestrial hunters, and some have become nocturnal

or crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk); these can

be recognized by their more somber coloration

compared to the bright metallic colors of their

day-active relatives.