Those of a certain age can remember car grills and windshields caked with insect bodies. Today you are hard pressed to find any insect remnants on a car. Recent research has shown that insect populations have declined by more than 45% since the 1980s, and another 40% of all insect species will be at risk of extinction within the coming decades. Some are using the term insect apocalypse to describe the decline.
Among these endangered insect species is the Puritan Tiger Beetle (Cicindela puritana), a shoreline bluff specialist with populations on Maryland’s western shore, upper Eastern Shore, and the shores of the Connecticut River (Middlesex County, Connecticut, and Hampshire County, Massachusetts). It is protected by both the federal Endangered Species Act and the Maryland Nongame and Endangered Species Conservation Act. In this talk, Dr. C. Barry Knisley will provide an overview of the Puritan Tiger Beetle and other endangered insects in Maryland.
BIO: Dr. C. Barry Knisley, Wornom Professor Emeritus of Biology at Randolph-Macon College, received a B.S. in Zoology and Entomology from Penn State University and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Entomology from Rutgers University. He began his 40 years of teaching in liberal arts colleges with 10 years at Franklin College of Indiana. In 1979, given the opportunity to teach courses more related to his area of expertise and to pursue research on tiger beetles, he joined the biology department at Randolph-Macon College. He has taught entomology, ecology, and a field course in desert biology in the southwest and tropical biology in Costa Rica. Most significant was his development of a field biology program and a requirement for biology majors to conduct an independent research project.
His 50 years of research have focused on the biology and conservation of tiger beetles, resulting in over 80 co-authored papers and 5 books (Field Guides to Species of the South Atlantic States, 1997; Field Guide to Species of U. S. and Canada, 2015; Tiger Beetles of New Mexico, 2023). He has conducted most of the research for 4 of the 5 tiger beetles currently on the Endangered Species list and continues to be active in tiger beetle conservation throughout the US, working closely closely with various government and private groups. A primary goal of listing tiger beetles has been to insure the protection of significant natural areas for their habitat. His studies have been funded by the USFWS, Maryland DNR, National Park Service, BLM and various private conservation groups. Much of his research since the late 1980s has involved monitoring and research on the Northeastern Beach and Puritan Tiger Beetles in Maryland and Virginia. He was a founding member and past president of the Virginia Natural History Society.
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