A Little Bit More
When we’re in the field, we’re used to having mammals and birds pay close attention to us, but certainly not insects! That House Fly or Mosquito that’s flying about seems almost totally unaware of us, unless it’s going to bite or land. But tiger beetles are an especially observant insect that are very much “aware” of our presence. There are about 1,500 species of tiger beetles worldwide and they come in a wide variety of colors and patterns so you probably have one or more species living near you.
Adult tiger beetles are active, predaceous insects probably most often encountered along a dusty path or sandy location where they wait for an unsuspecting insect to pounce upon. If you take a close look at their head, (if you can catch one) you’ll see their sharp mandibles (jaws) that are used to grasp their prey, but be careful, they can give you a painful pinch if not held carefully.
Tiger beetle larvae (called doodlebugs in some places) are also predaceous and quite interesting to watch. Although the adults are active predators and chase down their prey, the larvae don’t chase their prey wait for it to come to them. Tiger beetle larvae have a large, hard head with a soft, maggot-like body. They excavate a vertical burrow or small crater in sandy or dry soils where they wait for prey to come within reach. Their prey is captured with rather large jaws and then pulled down into their burrows where it is eaten.
Activities
How the Tiger Beetle Got its Name
Objectives: Creative Writing Exercise
Materials: Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling, Paper and pencil (computer if you wish)
We’ve focused on tiger beetles on this unit since their habit of flying off and landing, facing potential danger is an interesting behavior. There are many different kinds of tiger beetles and they come in a variety of colors but their shape is basically pretty much the same. This is an opportunity for students to use their own creativity to write a fictional story about how the tiger beetle got its name. The name certainly didn’t just pop out of the air, someone thought it made sense and today’s students can create their own story about just how this might have happened.
Have your students read one of the “Just So Stories” by Rudyard Kipling to give them a sense how someone might create an explanation for an animal’s appearance or behavior. Once they’ve read a story, you may want to discuss it in class before assigning them a writing project.
You determine how you’d like your students to write up their stories. With older students, you may want to see if they can write “in the style of” Kipling as an added component to their exercise.
If your students are quite young, you may want to have them get together in small groups and create a story that they can share verbally, rather than on paper. Whether students use paper and pencil or tell their story verbally, the whole idea here is to use creativity to come up with their own version of how tiger beetles got their name.
Key Concepts
Identification, Behavior and Regulation
Questions
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