About World Tiger Beetles
The most comprehensive open database of the family Cicindelidae
Author & curator
The database
World Tiger Beetles covers all currently recognised species of Cicindelidae at three taxonomic levels: family, genus/subgenus, and species/subspecies. For each taxon the matrix records up to 194 characters spanning morphology, distribution, phenology, ecology, conservation status and bibliographic data.
The database is the data backbone for:
- The Genera and Subgenera of Tiger Beetles Living Book monograph (insect-books.com)
- Interactive Country Field Guides for 98 countries
- Printable species field cards with phenology, habitat and identification data
- A species-level search covering all 3,717 taxa
Matrix architecture
The Cicindelidae matrix (CIC_WEB v5) is structured in 12 data blocks following the COL Universal Matrix v2.0 standard for Coleoptera databases:
- META — Taxonomy, identifiers (GBIF, iNat, CoL), rank, authorship
- MORPH_CORE — Body size, coloration, eye size, antennae, mandibles, tarsi, elytra
- MORPH_EXT — Wing type, coxal structure, defence mechanisms, stridulation
- LARVA — Larval type, habitat, urogomphi, pupal type
- ECOLOGY — Habitat zone, feeding, activity, voltinism, phenology (I–XII)
- GEO — Distribution (ISO country codes, Wallace regions, ADM1 provinces)
- PHYLO — Sister group, fossil age, phylogenetic support
- CONSERV — IUCN status, population trend, invasive status, bioindicator
- CONTENT — Common name, diagnostic text, etymology, WEB_SCORE, filter tags
- AUDIT — Data quality score, confidence profile, citation coverage, audit date
- CIC_FAM_EXT — Cicindelidae-specific: labrum type, maculation, substrate, thermal preference
Data quality system
Every species record carries a seven-dimension confidence profile. The composite DATA_QUALITY_SCORE (1–10) reflects the coverage and reliability of sourced data per record.
| Dimension | What it measures | Source |
|---|---|---|
| geo | Geographic distribution accuracy | Wiesner (2020), GBIF occurrences, ADM1 geocoding |
| bio | Biological data completeness | Primary literature, Pearson & Vogler (2001) |
| morph | Morphological data quality | Type specimen descriptions, revisions |
| pheno | Phenological data reliability | Collection records, iNaturalist observations |
| tax | Taxonomic status certainty | Wiesner (2020), CoL, original descriptions |
| conserv | Conservation data coverage | IUCN Red List, national assessments |
| cite | Citation coverage per record | Per-cell citations (CELL_CITATIONS SSOT) |
Records with DATA_QUALITY_SCORE ≥ 7 are published at full detail. Records scoring 4–6 display with a caution badge. Records below 4 are suppressed from the public interface pending review.
Primary data sources
How to cite
For citation of specific genus data, please additionally cite the relevant primary revision as listed in the species record bibliography.
Country Field Guides
The Country Field Guide system provides interactive online field guides for 98 countries, built automatically from the Cicindelidae matrix. Each guide includes:
- Identification key to all genera occurring in the country
- Complete species accounts with diagnostic characters, phenology bars and confusion species
- Province-level distribution data (ISO 3166-2 standard)
- Annotated checklist with basionyms and junior synonyms
- Printable field cards filterable by visit month and habitat type
- GBIF occurrence density map with verified locality markers
Browse all 98 Country Field Guides →
Living Book monograph
The matrix supports the forthcoming Genera and Subgenera of Tiger Beetles — a comprehensive world monograph covering all 240 Cicindelidae genera. Published as a Living Book: a digital reference work with 12 months of free updates included after publication.
Pre-order — Living Book 2026
Genera and Subgenera of Tiger Beetles
3,717 taxa · 240 genera · 12 months free updates · Includes all Country Field Guides
Usage & terms
The database is freely accessible for educational, research and personal use. Species data visible without registration may be used under CC BY 4.0 with attribution to world-tiger-beetles.com and Wiesner (2020).
Country Field Guide content (identification keys, species accounts, diagnostic texts) is licensed content and requires a valid access subscription. Commercial use of any database content requires written permission.
Photographs displayed via iNaturalist API are subject to the licence specified by the original observer. GBIF occurrence maps are subject to GBIF terms of use.
Contact
For taxonomic corrections, data contributions or licensing enquiries: