northeast-flora-and-fauna

This Six-spotted Tiger Beetle was out for a hike last summer. Being in the family of tiger beetles , they are considered to be ferocious predators of other small arthropods, which is presumably how they got the "tiger" part of their name. Tiger beetles are also considered to be fairly fast runners, aided by relatively long legs. While us humans are generally faster, we're also vastly larger. Though the Six-spotted Tiger Beetle's mouth is good at tearing into its prey, they're not really dangerous to us humans. Supposedly you'll feel a pinch if they bite you at all, which probably only happens if you're handling them. Despite the similar names, they're not known to be friendly with Six-spotted Fishing Spiders . June 29, 2023 at Sourland Mountain Preserve Photo 301252073, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

For a lot of identifications I warn people not to be too focused on color [1]. Whether it's due to funny lighting or natural variation within a species or natural variation over the life of an individual, color can easily fool you [2]. So today I'm showing 2 different Six-spotted Tiger Beetles , 1 that's a greenish-blue and another that's more of an emerald green. Though they're small, their (usually) vivid color and shininess can get your attention [3]. It's at least possible to think they're different species of beetle, but they're the same beetle. April 14, 2023 at Sourland Mountain Preserve Photo 272130292, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) April 14, 2023 at Sourland Mountain Preserve Photo 272130320, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) [1] While I'm not immune to making this mistake these days, I used to make this mistake a lot when I first started trying to ID our plants and animals. [2] My Newcomb's Wildflower Gui...

I met this shiny green guy, a Six-spotted Tiger Beetle , at the Plainsboro Preserve about 3 weeks ago. One interesting thing about them is that, despite the name, they sometimes have more or less than 6 spots (though I assume 6 spots is the most common). Though they're not very big, they do stand out when on bare ground; it looks like they're camouflaged more for being in greenery. They are sometimes confused with the less attractive Emerald Ash Borer , a beetle that's decimating our ash trees since sneaking into the country. (They don't look terribly similar to me, though they are both small green beetles.) The Six-spotted Tiger Beetle definitely won't hurt your ash trees (or any other vegetation) since they prey upon small arthropods instead.  April 28, 2021 at the Plainsboro Preserve Photo 128318894, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)