Two years ago I got hooked on tiger beetles as insect loving naturalists often do. Tiger beetles are members of the Family Cicindelidae, within the Superfamily Caraboidea. Actually I've been aware of these little predatory beetles for years. I photographed my first Six-spotted Tiger Beetle back in 2011 at Boykin Springs in east Texas while while on an ode trip. (Sometimes they are spotless.)
Being a tiger beetle lister is a little different from being a bird or butterfly lister. There's far few species to deal with. Texas has only 55 species of tiger beetles on iNaturalist. After two years I've seen twenty one species in Texas and twenty eight in total. My goal for the year was to add six new species to my state list. Before this trip I had seen two new species this year.
When I have my coffee in the morning I like to check out what's new on iNat. Besides checking my mail and new records approvals, I also like to see what butterflies or maybe tiger beetles have been seen. Saturday morning I was checking the new tiger beetles from the past couple of days and noticed that Jeff Black, top tiger beetle lister for Texas on iNat, had found some good stuff north of Abilene on the Salt Fork of the Brazos. Those finds included, the uber rare for Texas, Wetsalts Tiger Beetle and several members of the genus Ellipsoptera among maybe eight species total. Wow! Those are some species I'd like to see. I looked at the clock and thought I could be on my way in a couple of hours. I hit the road at 10:30 am. As an old bird chaser, spontaneous trips are no big deal. Strike while the iron is hot!
The 460 mile drive to San Angelo where I overnighted wasn't too bad. Saturday traffic was light on I-10. I just missed a storm as the road was wet and angry clouds were in the distance as I drove into town. Sunday morning I had another couple of hours to go. I headed north to the dying town of Aspermont. Along the way I observed lots of wet fields and freshly filled ponds. It had rained hard. I hoped all the rain was south of my destination as I was planning to walk the dry salty flats of the Salt Fork of the Brazos.
At Aspermont I veered up to the small village of Peacock and then took obscure dirt road CR 437. As I rounded a corner I saw the river and my heart sank. It was full of muddy red water. After 600 miles of driving my plans were shot.
I didn't know what to do. This was not what I had planned on. The salt flats and sand bars were all under water. Then I saw a little sand bar about 200 feet down stream. I thought to myself "If I was a little homeless tiger beetle I would be on that sand bar."
So I scrambled down the bank and under the old abandoned iron bridge, jumped the fence and bushwacked over to the sand bar. That wasn't too bad. And there were the tiger beetles! First an Ellipsoptera, then a Cream-edged and then... Wetsalts Tiger Beetle! This salt loving species is common in the salty playas of the southwest but this is the only known location for Cicindelidia hemorrhagica in Texas.
Later I found a copulating pair.
There were several red Ellipsoptera that I am calling cuprascens but Jeff Black called them macra. I will wait to see what the tiger beetle experts say on iNaturalist. (Morning edit: Alex Harman agrees with Jeff that these are Panhandle Tiger Beetles Ellipsoptera macra fluviatilis.) I think he might be using the hook on the central maculation for the ID.
But Alex also agrees with me that this one is Coppery Tiger Beetle Ellipsoptera cuprascens. He is the World's expert on these guys, having chased thousands of them around Oklahoma.
The Cream-edged Tiger Beetles we have in the Valley are either brown or green. The ones out here on the red substrate are a deep red.
Then I found a smaller Ellipsoptera with an incomplete humeral maculation. It's gotta be nevadica and Alex agrees.
The little sand bar was only about 50 ft by 20 ft but the action was fast and furias. I don't know how I failed to notice this one as I was photographing. The longer, thinner maculations clearly say Ellipsoptera sperata, Rio Grande Tiger Beetle. This is the inquisitor subspecies.
Another one I failed to notice as I was shooting was this common Hairy-necked Tiger Beetle.
It took a while but I finally found the common salt loving Eunota togarna, White-cloaked Tiger Beetle.
And the uber common Ocellated Tiger Beetle. This is our most common species along Texas shorelines.
After an hour of sensory overload and an amazing nine species of tiger beetles on this tiny sand bar I decided it was time to move on. So I headed farther north hoping for Great Plains butterflies but not a lot was goin on. It was pretty dry up there. I spent the night on Route 66 in Shamrock.
The next moring I was at the Gene Howe Wildlife Management Area. The entrance road was lined with Soapberry Trees. I checked so many of these from the Hill Country to the Panhandle and could not find a single Soapbery Hairstreak. Here's a Marine Blue up in the blooming Soapberry tree.
A litle ways up the road I found a nice sandy track running though native prairie. I didn't realize they had Mexican Yellows up here.
I walked up a hill on a deep sand track and saw a bug scurry off. I fired a quick shot and ws rewarded with a Big Sand Tiger Beetle. Cicindela formosa occurs in sandy areas from the east slope of the Rockies to the East Coast. This is the nominate subspecies. I love these big bruisers.
Then the much smaller brightly colored sand-loving Festive Tiger Beetle.
A look down the hill at the Soapberry grove where I would eat lunch.
Lots of wildflowers in the Soapberry grove but few butterflies. I did find a couple of neat bees. I have not tried to ID this one yet.
But my recent experiences in the RGV with Epimilissodes obliquus made this ID easy.
And a cool little red Nomada cuckoo bee of some kind.
It was warming up fast so I headed to my primary destination, a little dirt road up in Lipscomb County where James Giroux found some fantastic butterflies a few years ago. Jeep said 97F as I appraoched. I hoped it wasn't too hot for butterflies. Turned out they love it that way! I'm going to save this amazing little road for another post but I will add one additional tiger beetle. This common Punctured TB was a surprise away from water.
I finished my little four day 1600 mile excursion with twelve species of tiger beetles including five lifers. Far better than I had hoped! Now I have to edit some butterfly photos.
