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Sticker of Common claybank tiger beetle
Bug card No. 1017 of 4,939

Common claybank tiger beetle

Cicindela limbalis
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsBeetlesPonds, rivers and shores6 legs

The common claybank tiger beetle is a fast little hunter with a reddish purple back. Sometimes its back is dull green or brown instead. It loves steep, wet slopes of bare clay, often on river banks.

Lives in
North America east of the Rocky Mountains, on clay river banks
Length
1.2 to 1.6 cm (0.47 to 0.63 in)
Top speed
about 1.1 km/h (0.68 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It has no sting. It may give a little nip with its jaws if you hold it, so just watch it run.
What does it eat?
Like other tiger beetles, it is a speedy hunter that chases small insects and grabs them with its strong jaws.
For real!Photo of Common claybank tiger beetle
Picture by Matt Reinbold. CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Common claybank tiger beetle about 1.6 cm long (0.63 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)
as long as 2.5 grains of rice in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 3.3 seconds

How big is Common claybank tiger beetle compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It can live for 3 years, which is long for a beetle.

2

Long ago, scientists tested it. Its babies were found on clay ground and on steep slopes about 46 times more often than on other ground.

3

It lives as far north as the Northwest Territories of Canada.

4

Its home is bare clay slopes, often on the banks of rivers.

you asked

Most asked questions about Common claybank tiger beetle

?Is the common claybank tiger beetle dangerous?

No. It has no sting, though it may nip with its jaws if you hold it.

?How big is the common claybank tiger beetle?

It is 12 to 16 millimetres long.

?Where does the common claybank tiger beetle live?

In North America east of the Rocky Mountains, on steep clay slopes and river banks.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Cicindela limbalis
Group
Beetles
Family
Carabidae
Classification
Insecta > Coleoptera > Carabidae
Lives on
North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Cicindela limbalis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Matt Reinbold. CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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More from the same group: Beetles

Also at home here: Ponds, rivers and shores

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