Miami Tiger Beetle Ecology

The Miami tiger beetle has a body length of only 6.5-9mm long. Their body is a metallic green-blue with small punctured indentations on the wings, or elytra. They have very large eyes in proportion to the rest of their bodies and are highly visual predators. They can fly but are often seen darting along the ground quickly and usually only fly if disturbed.

The Miami tiger beetle lives in pine rockland habitats in Miami-Dade County. Adults prefer open sandy patches for oviposition and hunting. Today, their habitat has nearly been eliminated and there is less than 1.5% of the pine rockland’s original range remaining in Miami-Dade County. 

Decades went by without a trace of the Miami tiger beetle until 2007 when Jeff Slotten collected a beetle from the pine rocklands and discovered that this was the missing species last seen in 1939. The Miami tiger beetle survived in the underbrush and open patches of a fragment of pine rocklands. Its rediscovery prompted more questions about its future.