Violin Beetle vs Salt Creek Tiger Beetle

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Violin Beetle Salt Creek Tiger Beetle
Scientific Name Mormolyce phyllodes Cicindela nevadica lincolniana
Order Coleoptera Coleoptera
Family Carabidae Carabidae
Size 80-100 mm 10-12 mm
Habitat Forests Rivers & Streams
Diet Fungus Feeders Predators
Regions Asia Lancaster County, Nebraska, United States
Conservation Least Concern Endangered

Violin Beetle

An extraordinarily flat beetle shaped like a violin. Its paper-thin body allows it to squeeze between bracket fungi and under bark. Found in Southeast Asian rainforests.

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Did You Know?

The violin beetle is so flat it can slide between layers of bracket fungus like a playing card — its body is one of the most extremely flattened of any insect.

Salt Creek Tiger Beetle

One of the rarest insects in the world, this small tiger beetle has dark olive-brown elytra with faint white markings. It is found only on saline mud flats along Salt Creek in Lancaster County, Nebraska.

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Did You Know?

With fewer than 500 adults estimated in the wild, it is considered one of the rarest insects on Earth, threatened by urban development around Lincoln, Nebraska.