Adults can reach roughly 45–55 mm long.
Fine-art photographic collection
Manticora latipennis
A giant, flightless, nocturnal tiger beetle armed with some of the most exaggerated jaws in the family.
About this species
Manticora latipennisG. R. Waterhouse, 1837
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Manticora latipennis is a large black tiger beetle of southern Africa. Adults hunt on foot at night, while larvae are ambush predators at the mouths of deep burrows.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Coleoptera · Carabidae · Cicindelinae · Manticora
Accepted taxon. · checked 2026-07-15
Southern AfricaBroad range and selected reference localities — not a complete occurrence map.
Southern Africa
Arid and semi-arid savannah, sandy tracks and open ground.
Nocturnal, emerging after dusk and often after rain.
Other arthropods, seized by both adults and larvae.
Solitary predator.
What makes this species remarkable?
The beetle is both enormous and flightless: its fused wing covers protect the abdomen, but every pursuit across the night landscape is made on foot.
Male mandibles are disproportionately enlarged and help clasp the female during mating; their shape reflects reproduction as much as predation.
The larva becomes a living trapdoor, bracing itself inside a vertical burrow with abdominal hooks and exploding upward when prey crosses the entrance.