TIGER BEETLES OF MANITOBA: ECOLOGY, LIFE HISTORY AND MICROSCULPTURE
Robert E. Wrigley, Larry de March, and Erwin Huebner
Above: Hairy-necked Tiger Beetle (photo by Larry de March)
A new book on Manitoba’s 19 species of tiger beetles has just been published, involving longtime Nature Manitoba members Robert Wrigley and Larry de March. Popular worldwide with many naturalists and nature photographers, tiger beetles are a fascinating group of predatory insects characterized by beautiful colour patterns, large sickle-shaped jaws, and interesting behaviours, and are easily viewed at close range with binoculars. Creatures of the sun, they are active in open or partly vegetated habitats such as sand dunes, sandy or muddy shorelines, boreal-forest trails, saline ditches, and even exposed Precambrian Shield bedrock.
The 106-page book, published and authored by Robert Wrigley, features 80 images (mostly in colour), the work mainly of Larry de March and Deanna Dodgson, with 5 cartoons by local artist Rob Gillespie, an original painting of the Laurentian Tiger Beetle by Dr. Heather Hinam, and 24 highly magnified photos (using a scanning electron microscope) by Dr. Erwin Huebner, which reveal the astonishing microsculpture of these insects.
Observations on Manitoba’s tiger beetles have been contributed over many decades by well-known local naturalists such as Norman Criddle, John Braithwaite Wallis, and Dr. William B. Preston. With this guide to species and their habitats, the contributors hope to encourage students and naturalists to observe tigers beetles, and perhaps add to our knowledge of their habitats, life history and distribution.
A copy may be purchased for $20 by contacting robertwrigley@mts.net. The book is also available for viewing on the Nature North website (follow the downloading instruction, which takes some time due to the large size of the file).