Apteroessa

Apteroessa grossa is a species of tiger beetles in the family Cicindelidae, the sole species in the genus Apteroessa and described on the basis of a specimen from the Coromandel region (Tranquebar) in southern India. It is somewhat large (about one and a half inches long) and robust, and is among the few tiger beetles with highly reduced wings (or apterous) making them flightless.[2][1][3] There are three known specimens in museums, with varying degrees of damage. The species has not been seen in the wild after its description in the 18th century and is thought to be extremely local in distribution.[4]

Apteroessa
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Cicindelidae
Genus: Apteroessa
Hope, 1838[1]
Species:
A. grossa
Binomial name
Apteroessa grossa
(Fabricius, 1781)

While the locality mentioned for the species is Tranquebar, it has been suspected that one may have been collected from somewhere near Ammainaickanur in Dindigul district. It has been speculated that the species may be nocturnal.[5]

It has been suggested that flightlessness in tiger beetles is associated with habitat specialization, particularly with highly permanent and stable habitats.[6]

References
  1. Hope, F.W. (1838). The Coleopterist's Manual. Part the second containing the predaceous land and water beetles of Linneus and Fabricius. London: Henry G. Bohn. pp. 159–160.
  2. Sophien Kamoun; Saskia A. Hogenhout (1996). "Flightlessness and Rapid Terrestrial Locomotion in Tiger Beetles of the Cicindela L. Subgenus Rivacindela van Nidek from Saline Habitats of Australia (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae)". The Coleopterists Bulletin. 50 (3): 221–230.
  3. "Apteroessa Hope, 1838". Catalogue of Life. Retrieved 2023-04-08.
  4. Fowler, W.W. (1912). Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Coleoptera. General Introduction and Cicindelidae and Paussidae. London: Taylor and Francis. pp. 440–441.
  5. Cassola, Fabio. Uniyal, V.P. (ed.). "Studies of tiger beetles. Indian Tiger beetle conservation (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae)". Envis Bulletin. 14: 98–107.
  6. Kamoun, Sophien; Hogenhout, Saskia A. (1996). "Flightlessness and Rapid Terrestrial Locomotion in Tiger Beetles of the Cicindela L. Subgenus Rivacindela van Nidek from Saline Habitats of Australia (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae)". The Coleopterists Bulletin. 50 (3): 221–230. JSTOR 4009161.


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