Cicindela tranquebarica tranquebarica Herbst, 1806

Bousquet, Yves, 2012, Catalogue of Geadephaga (Coleoptera, Adephaga) of America, north of Mexico, ZooKeys 245, pp. 1-1722 : 245-246

Cicindela tranquebarica tranquebarica Herbst, 1806

Cicindela tranquebarica Herbst, 1806: 178. Type locality: "Trankenbar [= Tranquebar, Tamil Nadu, India]" (original citation), which is incorrect; herein restricted to Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina (see Harris 1911: 18, as Cicindela tranquebarica var. vulgarisminor). Syntype(s) location unknown (possibly in ZMHB).

Cicindela vulgaris Say, 1818: 409. Type locality: "North America" (original citation). Syntype(s) lost. Synonymy established by LeConte (1863b: 1).

Cicindela obliquata Dejean, 1825: 72. Type locality: «Amérique septentrionale" (original citation). Syntype(s) in MHNP. Synonymy established, under the name Cicindela vulgaris Say, by Dejean (1826: 414).

Cicindela vulgaris var. horiconensis Leng, 1902: 145. Type locality: "Lake George [Warren County], N[ew] Y[ork] (original citation for the lectotype). Lectotype (♂), designated by Dahl (1941: 172), in AMNH [# 1223]. Synonymy established by Horn (1905: 20).

Cicindela tranquebarica form minor Leng, 1910: 80. Type locality: "Louisiana; Georgia" (original citation). Syntype(s) location unknown. Synonymy established by Horn (1930: 81).

Cicindela tranquebarica var. vulgaris-minor E.D. Harris, 1911: 18. Type locality: "Charlotte, Goldsboro, High Point, Montague, Southern Pines, Jamestown, Manly [all in] No[rth] Car[olina]; Vowell’s Mill, Louisiana" (original citation). Syntype(s) in MCZ [# 25603]. Synonymy established, under the name Cicindela tranquebarica minor Leng, by Horn (1915: 376).

Cicindela tranquebarica turbulenta Casey, 1913: 25. Type locality: "Vicksburg [Warren County], Mississippi" (original citation). One syntype in USNM [# 45944]. Synonymy established by Horn (1915: 376).

Cicindela crinifrons Casey, 1913: 26. Type locality: "Asheville and Southern Pines, North Carolina" (original citation). Nine syntypes in USNM [# 45945]. Synonymy established, under the name Cicindela tranquebarica minor Leng, by Horn (1915: 376).

Cicindela wichitana Casey, 1914: 21. Type locality: «Kansas» (original citation). Four syntypes [4 originally cited] in USNM [# 45947]. Synonymy established by Horn (1915: 444).

Cicindela tranquebarica var. viridula Varas Arangua, 1928: 173. Type locality: "Concord, Massachusetts; Rhode Island; Connecticut; Long Island, N[ew] Y[ork]" (original citation). Syntype(s) in CAS [# 8151]. Synonymy established by Horn (1930: 81).

Distribution.

This subspecies, also known as the "Oblique-lined Tiger Beetle", ranges over much of eastern North America, from Newfoundland to Nebraska, south to northern Texas and northern Florida (Choate 2003: Map 26) [see Kritsky and Horner 1998: Fig. 5; Pearson et al. 2006: Map 45]. Several state and province records (e.g., AB, CA, ID, MB, MT, ND, NT, NV, OR, SK, UT, WY) in Boyd (1982: 9), Bousquet and Larochelle (1993: 61), and Freitag (1999: 57) apparently refer to other subspecies of Cicindela tranquebarica Herbst. Choate (2003: 81) reported that there are no recent collection records of this species in Florida.

Records.

CAN: LB, NB, NF, NS (CBI), ON, PE, QC USA: AR, CO, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VA, VT, WI, WV

Note.

Cicindela tranquebarica is extremely variable in color and maculation which lead to the recognition of several subspecies. However, it appears that the species varies seasonally. As remarked by Sumlin (1976a: 103) "if one were to sample this population [at Owen’s Lake, Inyo County, California] from early April to the middle of June one would have approximately 5 subspecific phenotypes represented; i.e., inyo Fall (green in color with narrow to thick lunules), kirbyi LeConte (brown or black in color with very wide lunules), cibecuei Duncan (blue in color with wide lunules), borealis E.D. Harris (brown or black in color with very narrow lunules), and parallelonota Casey (light to dark green in color with thickened lunules)." A thorough study of the variation in this species would probably lead to a reduction in the number of subspecies.