Ohlone Tiger Beetle vs Steel-blue Cricket Hunter

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Ohlone Tiger Beetle Steel-blue Cricket Hunter
Scientific Name Cicindela ohlone Chlorion aerarium
Order Coleoptera Hymenoptera
Family Carabidae Sphecidae
Size 10-12 mm 18-28 mm
Habitat Grasslands Deserts & Drylands
Diet Predators Predators
Regions Santa Cruz County, California, United States North America
Conservation Endangered Least Concern

Ohlone Tiger Beetle

One of the rarest tiger beetles in North America, known from only a handful of coastal terrace grassland sites near Santa Cruz, California. It has greenish-bronze elytra with thin white markings.

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Did You Know?

Described as recently as 1993, it is found on fewer than 10 sites totaling less than 50 acres, making it one of the most geographically restricted insects in North America.

Steel-blue Cricket Hunter

A large metallic blue wasp that hunts field crickets and mole crickets. It drags paralyzed prey into burrows to provision its nest cells.

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Did You Know?

It enters cricket burrows headfirst to sting and extract its prey from underground.