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Saturday, August 15, 2020

Across the hot sand

It was so hot today that we made our way to the coast for a swim.  On our walk along the beach, there were an impressive number of tiger beetles.  

Some of the beetles were hot, too, as you can see by their behavior — standing on tiptoes to avoid the hot sand:



Identifying different tiger beetles means getting a look at the markings on their backs (wing covers).  Note that this species is very well marked — at the shoulder (close to the neck), along the margin, in the middle, and at the tail end.  Here's a beetle on the open sand, and a second feeding along the wrack line:





We also saw quite a few mated pairs:


I haven't been lucky enough to see too many species of tiger beetles in California yet, but I'm going to go ahead and say that I think these are Hairy-necked Tiger Beetles (Cicindela hirticollis).  [If you think otherwise, feel free to let me know!]  Photographed near Drake's Estero on 15 August 2020.

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