Wednesday, November 1, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Tales from a
Sisters
Naturalist
by Jim Anderson
The tiger beetle
One of fastest and most
aggressive beetles crawling,
running, and chasing other
invertebrates on the surface
of our home planet can be
found on the Oregon Coast:
the tiger beetle. With apolo-
gies to my good pal, great
artist and musician Dennis
McGregor, I stuck a head-on
photo of an adult tiger beetle
on the head of the tiger, and
another crawling up its body,
like he likes to do.
The only similarities or
associations tiger beetles
have with tigers is the man-
ner in which the beetles cap-
ture their prey and the ento-
mologist who thought they
acted and looked like their
namesake. I doubt very much
if you’d ever find a tiger bee-
tle sitting on a tiger’s head
in real life, but because of
Dennis’ influence on my
imagination, I put it there.
The hunting methods of
mammal tiger and insect tiger
are very similar. While tigers
are mammals, born into the
world just like you and me,
the tiger beetle begins life as
an external egg, hatches into
a larvae, then proceeds to a
pupae, then, after the miracle
of metamorphosis, it then
emerges as an adult.
In the very early stage of
life, mammals live — and
grow — utilizing the nutri-
ents in their mothers’ blood.
The tiger beetle, on the other
hand, grows while it’s in the
larval stage, and even then,
it’s a supreme killer of other,
smaller invertebrates. As
adults, they have another trait
that’s in their favor: they are
known as the fastest terres-
trial insect on this grand old
planet Earth.
They display an uncom-
mon method of pursuing
their prey, in that they alter-
natively dash quickly toward
their victim, then stop, then
dash after it again. This
may be because while mak-
ing those sudden sprints, the
beetle’s moving too fast for
its visual system to accu-
rately process in real time.
Maybe it’s like me as I get
older, having to stop and say
to myself, “Now, where was
I headed…?”
Tiger beetles have another
trait that may also be associ-
ated with their speedy, sprint-
stop-sprint-stop method of
pursuit. To avoid running
into things, they hold their
long, rigid antennae directly
in front of them to mechani-
cally sense what’s coming,
head-on.
In 1996, scientists in the
Netherlands tested two spe-
cies of Australian tiger bee-
tle, Cicindels eburmeola and
C. hudsoni. Both have “ves-
tigial” wings, so they cannot
fly, but make up for it with
running skills. They were
clocked at 5.6 mph, capable
of covering eight feet in one
second.
Tiger beetles have large,
bulging eyes, which gives
them acute, wide-angle
vision. Their long, slender
legs and powerful muscles in
the thorax provide them with
their unusual speed. They
also possess large, curved
mandibles with which they
grasp and crush their prey.
(Sounds like the canines of a
tiger, doesn’t it?)
While most species
are diurnal (day-moving),
four genera are nocturnal,
and most tiger beetles are
brightly colored, while a few
genera found living primarily
in the dry regions of southern
Africa are black.
While there are many
instances of adult tiger bee-
tles glomming onto human
appendages, there are no
records of the larvae of tiger
beetles attacking humans.
The larvae live in cylindrical
burrows as much as three feet
deep. They’re large-headed
grubs with a large, muscular
humpback, which they use to
flip backwards, to capturing
insects that wander over the
surface nearby.
They are also considered
a good indicator species, and
have been used in ecologi-
cal studies on biodiversity
health. That is, if they are
found in their normal num-
bers in habitat where they
were once found it would
suggest the habitat for all
species in that niche are in
good condition.
The next time you head
for North Bend or Coos Bay
for a day on the beach, take a
look in the sand dunes among
the grasses and other vegeta-
tion and you’ll likely meet up
with Oregon’s tiger beetles.
If you don’t, please call me
and we’ll find out why.
17
Get rid of yard debris
Through
F r i d a y,
November 10, local residents
are encouraged to define their
defensible space by taking
advantage of the half-price
yard-debris days. (Closed
November 5.)
Residents can recycle
their yard debris at Deschutes
Recycling for half price —
$2 per cubic yard. FireFree
encourages residents to com-
plete their fall cleanup and
maintenance of defensible
space by bringing branches,
leaves, shrubs and pine nee-
dles to Deschutes Recycling
during this event.
Residents can take advan-
tage of this event as an alter-
native to fall burning, and
recycle the combustible
vegetation inside the 30-100
feet of defensible space
around their homes. FireFree
reminds residents to take a
look around your property
in the “home ignition zone,”
where glowing embers can
ignite spot-fires, and vulner-
able areas like decks, patios
and fences that can spread
flames to your home.
Where are your most vul-
nerable places for glowing
embers to ignite your home?
• Are your gutters and
roof valleys free from debris
like pine needles and leaves?
Clean them out. Despite a
metal or asphalt shingle roof,
the buildup of gutter debris
provides necessary fuel for
the glowing embers to ignite
adjacent fascia boards or
siding – most often made of
wood.
• Do your shrubs and
weeds provide a path of fuel
for fire to reach your trees or
home? Reduce shrubs and
other “ladder fuels” around
your home to reduce the
threat of ground fires igniting
nearby trees, or your home.
• What can catch fire on
your deck, patio, or near
your fence? Remove weeds,
shrubs or any combustible
materials from around, under
or on top of your deck, patio
or wood fence. This includes
toys, planters, construction
materials, patio furniture and
cushions along with even
small piles of pine needles or
leaves.
• Is your wood pile near
your home or other combus-
tible vegetation? Move wood
piles at least 20 feet away
from your home or other
combustibles.
FireFree is a year-round
effort to educate community
members and increase resi-
dent participation in prepar-
ing for wildfires. Residents
are encouraged to visit www.
FireFree.org for more infor-
mation about defensible
space, reducing the struc-
tural vulnerability of homes
and getting prepared for fire
season.
For more information
about FireFree activities in
your area, call your local
fire department or Project
Wildfire at 541-322-7129.
Deschutes Recycling is
located at Knott Landfill.
Starting November 1, oper-
ating hours will be Monday-
Saturday, 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
at 61050 SE 27th St., Bend.
PHOTO BY JIM ANDERSON
The author attempted to create a composite photo in imitation of
Dennis McGregor’s “You Stole My Name” art.
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