There are tigers in the woods! This week I encountered a tiger - a real tiger - only half an inch long: the six-spotted green tiger beetle, Cicindela sexguttata. This is one of the most beautiful insects on the forest floor in the early spring – beautiful and deadly. Beautiful, because nothing else matches the metallic, emerald green color of this diminutive hunter. Deadly if you are a small fly, beetle, or spider because of the speed and power of this rapacious predator. Its excellent vision allows it to stalk prey from a distance. It runs like a cheetah, pounces on the hapless victim, usually a small insect or spider, and tears it limb from limb with powerful jaws. As you approach the hunters on the forest floor, stay low and move slowly. If you get too close, the green tiger will fly up in a flash, alight about 20 feet away, and then turn to face you, the stalker. They are tough to capture without a net but if you catch one, be careful; they have powerful jaws and can give you a surprise. The immature stage, called the larva, lives like a troll in a hole in the ground and springs out to capture hapless victims that wander by. This diminutive tiger will be common along sunny bike trails and paths in the forest over the next month or so. Six-spotted green tiger beetles are well worth a walk in the woods for a look.

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