Genus
Ropaloteres
43 species
*Ropaloteres* Guérin-Méneville, 1849 is a genus of roughly ten metallic tiger beetles confined to the forests and open laterite pans of sub-Saharan Africa. These slender, cylindrical beetles measure between 10 and 18 mm and are active at night, patrolling compacted clay, laterite, and sandy substrates in search of prey. Their striking metallic coloration — ranging from bronze to coppery green — sets them apart from most of their Afrotropical relatives. The genus belongs to tribe Cicindelini, subtribe Cicindelina, and is fully winged.
Diagnosis
DIAGNOSIS — *Ropaloteres* Guérin-Méneville, 1849. Body 10–18 mm, cylindrical, elongate-cursorial. Coloration metallic (bronze, greenish, or coppery). Head wider than pronotum; eyes medium, not strongly protuberant; labrum subquadrate. Pronotum subquadrate. Elytra elongate, fully developed; hind wings present (macropterous). Maculation including humeral lunule and median band. Activity nocturnal. Habitat: forest and open ground on compacted laterite, clay-pan, or sandy substrate (sub-Saharan Africa). Distinguished from all other Afrotropical Cicindelina by combination of cylindrical habitus, medium eye size, subquadrate labrum, and strictly nocturnal activity on laterite substrates.
Etymology
From Greek *rhópalon* (club) + *téras*/-otes — "club-shaped".
Species (43)
Distribution map — GBIF occurrences
GBIF · © OpenStreetMap · © CartoDB
Overview
*Ropaloteres* Guérin-Méneville, 1849 is a genus of roughly ten metallic tiger beetles confined to the forests and open laterite pans of sub-Saharan Africa. These slender, cylindrical beetles measure between 10 and 18 mm and are active at night, patrolling compacted clay, laterite, and sandy substrates in search of prey. Their striking metallic coloration — ranging from bronze to coppery green — sets them apart from most of their Afrotropical relatives. The genus belongs to tribe Cicindelini, subtribe Cicindelina, and is fully winged.
Type species: Ropaloteres bicolor Chaudoir, 1860 [by monotypy]
1. Wiesner, J. (2020) — checklist authority 2. Cassola, F. (2000) — original genus description and revision 3. Werner, K. (2000) — Tiger Beetles of Africa, Vol. 2 — contemporaneous treatment 4. Knisley, C.B. & Pearson, D.L. (1984) — Biosystematics of larval tiger beetles, Sulphur Springs Valley, Arizona: descriptions of species and a review of larval biology. Transactions of the American Entomological Society 110: 465-551. 5. Arndt, E. & Putchkov, A.V. (1997) — Phylogenetic investigation of Cicindelidae (Insecta: Coleoptera) using larval morphological characters. Zoologischer Anzeiger 235: 231-241. 6. Schüle, P., Putchkov, A.V. & Markina, T.Y. (2021) — Dromica larvae: pronotum and hooks as unique characters. ZooKeys 1027: 111-138. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1027.61993 7. Werner, K. (1999/2000) — The Tiger Beetles of Africa (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae). Volumes I (1999, 191 pp) and II (2000, 207 pp). Taita Publishers, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic. [Color picture-catalogue of 396 species in 34 genera; covers sub-Saharan Africa excluding Madagascar; 779 colour photographs in Vol II alone] 8. Serrano, A.R.M. & Capela, R.A. (2013) — The tiger beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae, Cicindelinae) of Angola: a descriptive catalogue and designation of neotypes. Zootaxa 3731(4): 401-444. 9. 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] +8 citations · full list in paid edition
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Genera and Subgenera of Tiger Beetles
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