SURVIVAL OF IMMERSION AND ANOXIA BY LARVAL TIGER BEETLES, CICINDELA-TOGATA

The sedentary terrestrial larvae of the tiger beetle, Cicindela togata , inhabit areas that are often flooded for days or weeks. We tested th e ability of these larvae to survive immersion and anoxia. Maximum sur vival time of immersed, anoxic C. togata was 6 days at 25 C. Time to 5 0% mortality (LT50) in these conditions was 85.9 +/- 23.5 h. Survival times were more than eight times longer than those of similarly treate d larvae of Tenebrio molitor (LT50 10.1 +/- 3.2 h). Similar or somewha t longer survival times were observed in larvae of C. togata exposed t o an anoxic nitrogen atmosphere (LT50 102 +/- 31 h) and of T. molitor (LT50 14.4 +/- 6.5 h). At 10 C, LT50 of C. togata in anoxic atmosphere s exceeded 10 days. Tiger beetle larvae are physiologically capable of surviving several days of inundation during floods without mechanisms to prevent burrow flooding. By entering a quiescent state, C. togata larvae survive much longer periods of anoxia than has been previously reported for terrestrial insect larvae.