When I was college student I was also a avid tiger beetle collector. I lived then in southern Arizona and this is about as close as you can get to heaven for tiger beetles. However the guides available were basically technical treatments on the genera. Most of my identifications were made using a key to the genera and a monograph of the genus Cicindela in Mexico. Needless to say these were illustrated in black and white and did not come close to rendering the beetles as they were in life.
David Pearson, et al. have produced the one book that I would have given just about anything to have owned at the time in "A Field Guide to the Tiger Beetles of the United States and Canada: Identification, Natural History, and Distribution of the Cicindelidae." This is a beautiful and indispensable book for any coleopterist and especially those who are involved with tiger beetles.
From the giant Amblycheila to the tiny Cicindela debilis, all of the North American tiger beetles north of Mexico are here. All are illustrated in color as well! The range maps, sections on natural history, identification, conservation and study of tiger beetles are just what the beetle enthusiast needs to make the interest as pleasurable as possible. I do not collect tiger beetles any more except to add to our university collection. But now, with this book, a modern closeup binocular or monocular, a camera, an aerial net and a magnifying lens the amateur or professional coleopterist has a real kit for enjoying and learning about these fascinating denizens of woodland pathways, sand dunes and wetland shores. I had the last three, but not the first two. I certainly envy the modern student of these beetles!
