Apterodela

Overview

*Apterodela* Rivalier, 1950 is a small genus of six flightless tiger beetles ranging across the Palearctic, African, and Oriental regions. Entirely apterous, these nocturnal hunters patrol bare, open ground after dark, their hind wings permanently reduced — a striking departure from the aerial agility typical of most tiger beetles. Larvae develop in vertical burrows dug into bare soil, anchoring the genus to the driest, most exposed substrates in its range.

Type species: Apterodela kazantsevi Putchkov & Matalin, 2003 [by monotypy]

1. Wiesner, J. (2020) — checklist authority 2. Putchkov, A.V. & Matalin, A.V. (2003) — original genus description 3. Löbl, I. & Smetana, A. (eds.) (2003) — Palearctic catalogue 4. Pearson, D.L. & Vogler, A.P. (2001) — Tiger Beetles: The Evolution, Ecology, and Diversity of the Cicindelids. Cornell Univ. Press, Ithaca, 333 pp. [ISBN 0-8014-3882-9] 5. Duran, D.P. & Gough, H.M. (2020) — Validation of tiger beetles as distinct family (Cicindelidae) and reclassification within Coleoptera. Systematic Entomology 45(4): 723-729. DOI: 10.1111/syen.12440 [validates Cicindelidae as separate family] 6. Gough, H.M., Duran, D.P., Kawahara, A.Y. & Toussaint, E.F.A. (2018) — A comprehensive molecular phylogeny of tiger beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Cicindelinae). Systematic Entomology 43(3): 567-586. DOI: 10.1111/syen.12324 [ML phylogeny of 328 taxa, 9 gene regions] 7. Wiesner, J. (2020) — Checklist of the Tiger Beetles of the World, 2nd edition (Verzeichnis der Sandlaufkäfer der Welt, 27. Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Cicindelidae). Winterwork, Borsdorf, 534 pp. [Authoritative current world checklist] 8. Rivalier, É. (1950) — Démembrement du genre Cicindela Linné (Travail préliminaire limité à la faune paléarctique). Revue Française d'Entomologie 17(4): 217-244. [Part I — Palearctic fauna; subgenus establishment] 9. Horn, W. (1908, 1910, 1915) — Coleoptera Adephaga, fam. Carabidae, subfam. Cicindelinae. In: Wytsman, P. (Ed.) Genera Insectorum, fascicles 82a, 82b, 82c. L. Desmet-Verteneuil, Bruxelles. BHL bibliography/45481 [foundational historical monograph of Cicindelidae, treating all genera known at the time]

BHL historical illustrations →