Larval morphology, biology and faunistics of Cicindelidae (Coleoptera) from Leyte, Philippines

Abstract

Twelve species of Cicindelidae have been collected on Leyte island, the Philippines. One of them, Thopeutica milanae, was new to science and described by WIESNER (1992a). Only three of the species were previously known from Leyte. Brief information on the general distribution of the species and collecting localities are given. The ground-burrowing larva of Lophyridia despectata (Horn 1892) and the barkburrowing larva of Tricondyla aptera (Olivier 1790) are described and figured, and adaptations to habitat by larval morphology are shown. Finally, notes on the biology of these species, especially habitats and behaviour, are given.

Alien and native tree species having extrafloral nectaries as favorite hunting area for arboreal endemic Philippine tiger beetles (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae) in human‐disturbed habitat in Lanao del Sur Province, Mindanao, Philippines

“…Taking all these facts into consideration, one can note that high abundance of endemic predatory tiger beetles (Cabras et al, 2016) occurring not only on native but also on invasive/alien tree species in Lanao del Sur is unusual and surprising, until we will pay attention on biology and ecology of both arboreal Cicindelidae and tree species on which these beetles were recorded in current study. Both Tricondyla and Neocollyris tiger beetles are known as day active predators hunting on trees and bushes on different small insects, with preference of ants (Clausen, 1940; Naviaux, 2002; Trautner & Schawaller, 1996; R. Jaskuła—personal observation). On the other hand, most (all?)…”

“…In the Philippines, more than 160 taxa of tiger beetles have been noted (Anichtchenko & Medina, 2019, 2020; Cabras et al, 2016; Dheurle, 2016, 2019; Medina et al., 2019, 2020; Wiesner & Dheurle, 2018; Zettel & Wiesner, 2018) including 14 Tricondyla Latreille et Dejean, 1822 and 29 Neocollyris Horn, 1901 species of which almost 90% are endemic to this country (Cabras et al, 2016). Although there is no detailed study devoted to prey preferences of arboreal Tricondyla or Neocollyris species, unspecified ant species are suggested as one of the most important types of prey both for larvae and adults of these ant‐mimicking tiger beetles (Naviaux, 2002; Pearson & Vogler, 2001; Trautner & Schawaller, 1996).…”

The forgotten tigers: the arboreal tiger beetles of Sri Lanka

“…All five genera are also found in India (Saha & Halder, 1986;Saha et al, 1995;Bhargav et al, 2009;Cassola, 2011), while three genera -Collyris, Neocollyris and Tricondyla are found in Thailand (Naviaux, 1991). Species of Collyris and Neocollyris have been recorded from Vietnam (Erwin & House, 1978;Toki et al, 2017), and Neocollyris and Tricondyla from the Philippine Islands (Trautner & Schawaller, 1996;Cassola, 2000b) and Hong Kong (Aston, 2016). Tricondyla are also known from Brunei (Damken et al, 2017).…”

“…These larvae wait at the tunnel opening and catch prey only at night due to the availability of prey. High numbers of ants, houseflies and other arthropods are available at night running along the trunks of trees (Trautner & Schawaller, 1996). The larvae of arboreal tiger beetles are known to be different from the larvae of terrestrial tiger beetles in having shorter mandibles and pronotal setation; rounded pronotal anterior corners; deeply furrowed pronotal structure; short and broad femur and tibia; short tarsus with short spines and short and joined claws (Trautner & Schwaller, 1996).…”

Arboreal Tiger Beetles Recorded from Lowland Crop Cultivations in Sri Lanka

“…They are found on trees mainly in forested areas such as Pogonostoma sp. inhabiting tree trunks in primary forests of Madagascar (Andriamampianina et al, 2000), species of Tricondyla and Neocollyris found on trees in secondary and primary forests of Philippines (Trautner and Schawaller, 1996), Neocollyris sp. in green vegetation of forests of Kerala, India (Saha and Halder, 1986) and Ctenostoma sp.…”