Tiger beetle defenses revisited: Alternative defense strategies and colorations of two neotropical tiger beetles, Odontocheila nicaraguensis Bates and Pseudoxycheila tasalis Bates (Carabidae : Cicindelinae)

The alternative defensive strategies of two neotropical tiger beetles, Odon tocheila nicaraguensis Bates and Pseudoxycheila tarsalis Bates. are describ ed and compared. The defensive functions of their respective colorations we re analyzed in the context of local ambient light and visual backgrounds us ing spectroradiometry. Odontocheila nicaraguensis exhibited a cryptic elytr al coloration that closely matched the substrate of the forest understory. When disturbed. the beetles quickly flew and exposed an iridescent green ab domen that was highly conspicuous in the ambient light of forest gaps. Pseu doxycheila tarsalis exhibited a color pattern that was highly conspicuous a gainst the exposed soil within large gaps of cloud forest, and matched the color pattern of mutillid wasps. When disturbed, P. tarsalis did not fly, b ut released a distasteful secretion. suggesting that the beetle was both ap osematic and a Mullerian mimic of the mutillids. The behavioral observation s and spectroradiometric analyses of color patterns presented here support alternative defensive roles fur the elytral colorations of O. nicaraguensis (crypsis) and P. tarsalis (aposematism, mimicry) and demonstrate the plaus ibility of other secondary defenses involving color.