Cicindela lepida

Ghost tiger beetles are found in appropriate habitat throughout a wide range. These tiger beetles are found throughout most of the Midwestern United States from the southern Great Lakes region and the Mississippi River Valley west to the Rocky Mountains and into northern Arizona and western Nevada. They are also found along the Hudson River Valley and the mid-Atlantic seaboard. (Pearson, et al., 2006)

Ghost tiger beetles are found in sandy soils, including dunes and sandy blowouts in fields and forests, and in dry, well-drained soils with little vegetation. They are found on light colored substrates, making them very difficult to see. They are described as dune specialists. (Leonard and Bell, 1999; Pearson, et al., 2006)

Ghost tiger beetles are small tiger beetles, from 8 to 12 mm long as adults, with light colored, coppery green, or reddish-bronze head and thorax and almost entirely light colored elytra. Some individuals have brownish markings on the elytra. They are coppery green on their lower surface as well, with white bristles or hairs covering the undersurface and head. The legs and antennae are light colored as well, but can be reddish-brown. The labrum has 1 tooth and 12 long setae. Male and female tiger beetles are distinguished by the presence of brush-like tarsal pads on the male's forelegs, used to hang on to the female during mating. Females have a shallow groove on their prothorax that helps males to hang on during mating. There are no described subspecies. They may be confused with Cicindela dorsalis dorsalis, northeastern beach tiger beetles, but these are restricted to Atlantic coastal beaches. (Leonard and Bell, 1999; Pearson, et al., 2006)

Like all tiger beetle larvae, ghost tiger beetle larvae are grub-like, with an armored head and an enlarged portion of the 5th abdominal segment that bears two pairs of large hooks. They have large mandibles and 6 small eyes on the head. Larvae establish burrows and wait for passing prey near the top of the burrow, they retreat into the deeper parts of the burrow if disturbed. Ghost tiger beetles go through 3 instar stages. Third instars are 14 to 16 mm long, with bronze-green on the pronotum and head. Their setae (bristles) are transparent and long. (Leonard and Bell, 1999; Pearson, et al., 2006)

Ghost tiger beetles spend most of their lives as larvae, burrowed into the sand. In their 2nd year they pupate, metamorphosing into adults. (Leonard and Bell, 1999)

Ghost tiger beetles find mates in mid to late summer. Specific observations of mating are not reported for ghost tiger beetles. As in most tiger beetles, however, males generally run at females during the mating period and jump on to their backs. They use their jaws and forelegs to hold onto the prothorax of the female, which has a groove that makes it easier to hold on. If the male is not dislodged by the female, then he can successfully copulate with her. Males often continue to hang onto the female for several hours after copulation to prevent another male from mating with her. (Leonard and Bell, 1999; Pearson, et al., 2006)

Females lay about 50 light colored eggs in individual holes in the sand during summer, generally in July. Larvae hibernate during their first and second winters, they reach the second instar stage before their first winter and the third instar stage before their second winter. In the early summer of the following year they pupate and emerge as adults in June and July. Adults then mate, lay eggs, and die. Ghost tiger beetles have multiple broods that breed in alternating years in the same area. (Leonard and Bell, 1999)

Females select appropriate sites to lay their eggs, one at a time. Larvae build their burrows at that site, so it is important that the site is well chosen. Once the female deposits the eggs, there is no further parental investment. (Leonard and Bell, 1999; Pearson, et al., 2006)

Ghost tiger beetles are thought to live up to 3 years in the wild. However, they live for only about a month as adults and for 2 or slightly more years as larvae. (Leonard and Bell, 1999; Pearson, et al., 2006)

Ghost tiger beetles are solitary and secretive, freezing when they detect a threat. They are active from March to October but are most common during the warmest months, June and July. They tend to take shelter during the hottest parts of the day and are most often seen in the morning, evening, and at night. They fly fairly short distances, usually only 2 to 5 meters, although they will be carried farther by strong winds. They are attracted to lights. They dig burrows in sand and loose soil to escape the heat and use other forms of behavioral thermoregulation, such as basking to warm or holding their bodies above the substrate to help cool themselves. Larvae are found in deep burrows with a shallow funnel at the mouth of the burrow. Estimates of burrow depth range from 60 cm to 3 m deep. They overwinter in their burrows and pupate in the deepest portion of the burrow. (Choate, Jr., 2003; Leonard and Bell, 1999; Pearson, et al., 2006)

There is no information on home range in ghost tiger beetles. Larvae remain in their burrow for extended periods. (Leonard and Bell, 1999)

Tiger beetles have large eyes and acute vision that they use to help find prey and avoid predators. Interestingly, they can move faster than their visual acuity can keep up. When they see prey, they quickly run after it, but then must stop again to find the prey visually. Tiger beetle adults also have ears (tympana) on their abdomen underneath the elytra. They may be used to help detect predators that produce sounds, such as bats, but more research is needed. Larvae use their eyes to detect danger and prey and are capable of focusing well. They also use vibrations to detect passing animals. (Dillon and Dillon, 1961; Pearson, et al., 2006)

Ghost tiger beetle larvae sit and wait near the top of their burrows until a passing insect falls in to the funnel shaped mouth of the burrow. They use the extended portion and spines on their 5th abdominal segment to hold themselves in place near the top of the burrow and their long, curved jaws to grab the insect and then consume them in the burrow. (Dillon and Dillon, 1961)

Adult ghost tiger beetles use vision to detect and chase prey. They eat small arthropods, often primarily ants, and grab them with their jaws. They then chew up the prey in the mouth where a strong digestive enzyme breaks prey down into a nutrient soup. The nutrients are swallowed and small balls made up of the indigestible parts of the prey are spit out. The digestive enzyme is so strong that it will digest holes in bug nets used to catch these beetles. (Leonard and Bell, 1999)

Ghost tiger beetles take advantage of their coloration as a form of camouflage. When a threat is detected, they freeze so that the predator can’t see them. They are also capable of brief flights and can run quickly. Larvae drop to the bottom of their burrows when disturbed, where they may be difficult to reach. They can also hold onto the walls of their burrow with their enlarged 5th segment, making it difficult to extract them. Adults may be preyed on by any number of insectivorous animals, including spiders, robber flies (Asilidae), lizards, toads, birds, such as flycatchers (Muscicapidae) and shrikes (Laniidae), raccoons, and skunks. Larvae may be preyed on by ants, hister beetles (Histeridae), and soldier beetles (Cantharidae). Larvae fall prey to ground-foraging woodpeckers, ants, and wasps. (Dillon and Dillon, 1961; Pearson, et al., 2006)

Ghost tiger beetles co-occur in some areas with big sand tiger beetles (Cicindela formosa generosa) and festive tiger beetles (Cicindela scutellaris lecontei). Because they are specialists on largely undisturbed dunes habitats, they are good indicators of habitat quality. (Leonard and Bell, 1999)

Larvae are especially vulnerable to parasitoid wasps, especially the tiphiid wasp genera Methoca and Pterombrus. Parasitoid wasps paralyze a larva with a sting and then lay their eggs on the larva and closes the entrance to the burrow. The parasitoid larvae then consume the tiger beetle larva as they develop and emerge from the burrow as adults. Parasitoid bee-flies (Anthrax) lay eggs on the substrate near a tiger beetle larval burrow and roll them into the burrow, where they develop at the bottom and then crawl onto the tiger-beetle larva. When the tiger beetle larva begins to pupate, the bee-fly larvae consume it. Mites also parasitize tiger beetles. (Leonard and Bell, 1999; Pearson, et al., 2006)

Ghost tiger beetles are undisturbed dune specialists and may be important environmental indicators of undisturbed habitat. (Leonard and Bell, 1999; Pearson and Vogler, 2001; Pearson, et al., 2006)

There are no adverse effects of ghost tiger beetles on humans.

Ghost tiger beetles have been extirpated from portions of their previous range through habitat destruction, mainly from sand excavation activities and the stabilization of sandy areas as vegetation encroaches. They are considered rare throughout their range, but are not currently protected. (Pearson, et al., 2006)

Cicindela lepida is part of the ellipsed-winged tiger beetle group (Ellisoptera). (Pearson, et al., 2006)