Adults are approximately 12–16 mm long.
Fine-art photographic collection
Lophyra fasciculicornis
A southern African tiger beetle whose males carry a conspicuous brush of bristles on a single antennal segment.
About this species
Lophyra fasciculicornis(Barker, 1919)
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Lophyra fasciculicornis is a sand-running tiger beetle of southern Africa. It has a high-contrast elytral pattern, long legs and, in males, a distinctive antennal fascicle used to recognise the species.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Coleoptera · Carabidae · Cicindelinae · Lophyra
Accepted taxon. · checked 2026-07-15
Mozambique, Botswana, Namibia and South AfricaBroad range and selected reference localities — not a complete occurrence map.
Mozambique, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa
Open sandy ground, tracks, dry river margins and sparse savannah.
Fast-running diurnal predator.
Small surface-active arthropods.
Solitary.
What makes this species remarkable?
The fourth antennal segment of the male carries a concentrated fascicle of bristles, turning one joint into a conspicuous sensory or display structure absent from the ordinary female antenna.
The tuft is so taxonomically distinctive that it is built into the name fasciculicornis — literally “bundle-horned” — and can separate the species from otherwise similar patterned tiger beetles.
Its pale lattice markings fracture the dark wing cases into multiple false edges, while the long legs suspend the body above hot sand during high-speed pursuit.