Transbaikal and adjoining parts of Siberia and northeastern Asia
Fine-art photographic collection
Cicindela transbaicalica
A one-centimetre tiger beetle that occupies everything from taiga riverbanks to cultivated fields.
About this species
Cicindela transbaicalicaMotschulsky, 1844
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Cicindela transbaicalica is an eastern Palaearctic tiger beetle about 10 mm long. Records place it on sandy water margins, scree within taiga, floodplain woodland and even cultivated cabbage fields, revealing an unusually broad ecological range for a specialist-looking visual predator.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Coleoptera · Carabidae · Cicindela
Accepted taxon. · checked 2026-07-15
Transbaikal and adjoining parts of Siberia and northeastern AsiaBroad documented range and selected reference localities — not a complete occurrence map.
Open sandy and stony ground in continental landscapes.
Diurnal ground-running predator.
Predatory on small arthropods.
What makes this species remarkable?
Adults are only about one centimetre long, yet they operate as fast visual predators across exposed ground.
The species has been recorded on sandy reservoir shores, taiga scree and floodplain birch-aspen woodland.
It has even been found in a cabbage field, showing that the same tiger beetle can move from natural river-edge habitat into an agricultural landscape.