9 Types of Beetles in Massachusetts: Rare Tiger Beetles and the American Burying Beetle
October 19, 2026
Types of beetles in Massachusetts include everyday garden pests and some of the rarest insects in the Northeast. Nine beetles appear on the state’s official list of endangered, threatened, and special concern species. Eight of those nine are tiger beetles, and the ninth is the American burying beetle.
Tiger beetles get their name from their hunting style. They chase down prey and grab it with long mandibles, much like a big cat. Most live on bare ground such as sand, clay, cobble, and beach, which makes them easy to lose when land is developed, stabilized, or overrun by vehicles.
Massachusetts has hundreds of beetle species overall, and the worldwide beetle count runs far higher. This article focuses on the nine protected species, drawn from MassWildlife’s printable list of rare species. Here is a quick reference before the profiles.
| Beetle | Massachusetts Status | Federal Status |
|---|---|---|
| Twelve-spotted Tiger Beetle | Special Concern | Not listed |
| Claybank Tiger Beetle | Threatened | Not listed |
| Barrens Tiger Beetle | Endangered | Not listed |
| Purple Tiger Beetle | Special Concern | Not listed |
| Cobblestone Tiger Beetle | Endangered | Not listed |
| Hentz’s Red-bellied Tiger Beetle | Threatened | Not listed |
| Puritan Tiger Beetle | Endangered | Threatened |
| Northeastern Beach Tiger Beetle | Endangered | Threatened |
| American Burying Beetle | Endangered | Threatened (reclassified in 2020) |
1. Twelve-Spotted Tiger Beetle
The twelve-spotted tiger beetle (Cicindela duodecimguttata) is the most widely tolerated of the group on this list. MassWildlife classifies it as a species of special concern, the lowest of the three protection tiers. That means it is not yet threatened or endangered, but it is declining or limited enough to need monitoring.
Like other tiger beetles in the genus, it is a fast, sharp-eyed predator that runs across open ground and takes off in short flights when approached. Look for it along damp, bare edges of ponds, streams, and rivers in summer. Its name refers to the pale spots and markings on its dark wing covers, though the pattern can look more like a broken line than twelve neat dots.
Because it sits at the special concern level, it is a good starting point for anyone new to Massachusetts tiger beetles. Seeing one helps train the eye for the faster, rarer species that follow. For more on how these animals fit into the wider insect world, see this overview of different types of insects.
2. Claybank Tiger Beetle
The claybank tiger beetle (Cicindela limbalis) is a Massachusetts threatened species. It lives on sparsely vegetated clay and till banks and cliffs, and its larvae dig burrows in sloping clay banks.
In Massachusetts, this beetle occurs on glacial deposits of the offshore islands, along eroding cliffs, and on adjacent beaches. That makes it a coastal specialist. It depends on slow, natural erosion that keeps fresh clay exposed and keeps shrubs from taking over.
The same cliffs that suit this beetle are popular with hikers and shoreline walkers. Hard erosion barriers, which protect property, can also cover the exposed banks it needs. Readers curious about other Northeast regions can compare it with the insects found in New York, where similar coastal and bluff habitats exist.
3. Barrens Tiger Beetle
The barrens tiger beetle (Cicindela patruela) is endangered in Massachusetts and is tied to a very specific habitat. It measures 13 to 15 mm (0.5 to 0.6 in) and has an iridescent green body with white markings on the wing covers. The six-spotted tiger beetle looks similar, but its markings shrink to six spots around the edge, with no middle band.
This beetle lives in pitch pine and scrub oak barrens. In Massachusetts, it is known only from Plymouth County. Adults forage and mate on patches of bare sand, and larvae dig their burrows and catch prey there.
Its life cycle is unusual for a beetle. It takes two years to complete, with adults emerging in late August and September and overwintering from October. The next spring, from late April through early June, the adults mate and females lay eggs.
MassWildlife names three main threats on its Barrens Tiger Beetle page. They are habitat loss and the suppression of fire, which keeps the barrens open. Off-road vehicles also crush adults and larvae and rut the sand so that it can no longer hold larval burrows.
Pro Tip: Tiger beetles are fast and skittish. Walk slowly, scan the bare sand a few steps ahead, and keep to established trails so you do not collapse larval burrows underfoot.
4. Purple Tiger Beetle
The purple tiger beetle (Cicindela purpurea) is another Massachusetts species of special concern. Its color is the main field mark. Individuals can appear reddish brown, bronze, or deep violet depending on the light, and the pale markings on the wing covers tend to be reduced.
This species favors open ground with firm, bare soil, such as clay or sandy paths and sparsely vegetated openings. It often runs on trails and then flies a short distance ahead, landing facing you. That habit makes it one of the easier tiger beetles to watch, as long as hikers stay on the path and do not trample the surrounding soil.
Its special concern status points to a species whose open habitats are shrinking as fields grow in and soils get compacted. Fellow insect fans can compare it with the flies found in Massachusetts, which share many of the same meadows and trails.
5. Cobblestone Tiger Beetle
The cobblestone tiger beetle (Cicindelidia marginipennis) is among the rarest beetles in the state. It is known from just one site in Franklin County. MassWildlife lists it as endangered under the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act.
It is small, at 11 to 14 mm (0.45 to 0.55 in), and ranges from medium brown to olive green with a metallic sheen. That coloring blends into river cobble remarkably well.
It is also a summer species. Adults are active in July and August, when they forage, mate, and lay eggs. The MassWildlife species page notes that its life history, especially the immature stages, has not been well studied.
The biggest threat is a change in river flow. Altered hydrology disrupts the seasonal flooding that deposits cobble and sand in its habitat. In other words, the beetle needs a river that still floods the way it used to.
6. Hentz’s Red-Bellied Tiger Beetle
Hentz’s red-bellied tiger beetle (Cicindelidia rufiventris hentzii) is listed as threatened in Massachusetts. The name describes the field mark. Beneath the dark upper surface, the abdomen carries a reddish tint that sets it apart from the metallic green and bronze tiger beetles around it.
Public documentation for this subspecies is thinner than for the others on the list, so details of its Massachusetts distribution are best checked directly with MassWildlife. What the state list does confirm is its protected tier, which sits one step below endangered. Threatened species are likely to become endangered if conditions do not improve.
For readers building a regional picture, it helps to compare with neighboring states. The Mid-Atlantic beetles of Maryland include several tiger beetle relatives that share the same bare-ground lifestyle.
7. Puritan Tiger Beetle
The puritan tiger beetle (Ellipsoptera puritana) is endangered in Massachusetts and threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. It lives on sandy and clay riverbanks, and in New England it is tied to the Connecticut River valley.
Its numbers are very small. An ecoRI News report put the New England population of this medium-sized beetle at under 1,000, with about 99% of the remaining beetles in Connecticut. Massachusetts therefore holds only a sliver of the regional population.
Because it hunts along riverbanks, it is sensitive to anything that changes the shoreline. Dams and altered flows, bank stabilization, and heavy foot traffic can all remove the open sandy patches it needs. Protecting stretches of undisturbed riverbank is the most direct way to help it.
Key Insight: Several of these beetles, including the Puritan, cobblestone, and claybank species, depend on natural river or coastal disturbance. Floods, erosion, and shifting sand keep their habitat open, so “protecting” them often means letting natural processes continue rather than freezing the landscape.
8. Northeastern Beach Tiger Beetle
The northeastern beach tiger beetle (Habroscelimorpha dorsalis dorsalis) was once common along Atlantic beaches. Today it survives only along the Chesapeake Bay and in Massachusetts. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has listed it as threatened since 1990.
It is a pale, sand-colored beetle. At 13 to 15 mm, it is the largest of the recognized subspecies, with bronze to greenish coloring and broad cream markings. It spends its whole life on long, wide beaches with little human activity, often gathering at the water’s edge on warm days. It eats small invertebrates and scavenges dead fish and crabs that wash ashore.
Massachusetts holds very few populations. The state is home to only two natural populations, and the larger one lives on an offshore barrier beach that is relatively undisturbed. The species needs wide beaches, and its habitat must be at least six meters wide.
Storms are the biggest wild card. A single severe summer storm could wipe out the remaining Massachusetts populations. The Fish and Wildlife Service’s species profile has more detail on its range. Readers interested in the Chesapeake side of the story can read about the beetles of Virginia.
9. American Burying Beetle
The American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus) is the only non-tiger beetle on the list, and it is a very different animal. At 25 to 45 mm (1.0 to 1.75 in), it is the largest burying beetle in North America. Its black body carries two pairs of scalloped orange spots on the wing covers and an orange spot on the head.
It earns its name from how it handles carrion. It is nocturnal and feeds on the carcasses of small birds and mammals. It can bury a carcass many times its own size. After stripping the remains, the pair shapes them into a ball, buries it, and preserves it with body secretions. The female then lays up to 30 eggs nearby.
Parents care for their young, which is rare among insects. Both adults regurgitate food for the small larvae at first. In Massachusetts, the beetle is active and breeds from spring through autumn, then overwinters as an adult in a soil burrow. The MassWildlife species page includes a distribution map for records from 2000 to 2025.
Its history in the state is tied to Nantucket. Surveys found the beetle in parts of Massachusetts, and reintroduced populations live on Nantucket and in Ohio and southwest Missouri. If you want to compare, see the beetles of Ohio and Missouri.
Important Note: Sources disagree on the federal status of this beetle. An ecoRI News report says it was federally reclassified from endangered to threatened in 2020. MassWildlife’s printable list still shows a federal endangered notation, so check the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the current listing.
Habitat loss explains much of the decline. According to the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife, habitat fragmentation likely drove the decline by reducing the prey animals favored for breeding carrion. The same fragmentation also helped scavengers that compete for carcasses.
These nine beetles show how much of Massachusetts’ insect diversity depends on bare sand, clay, cobble, and open ground. For more regional comparisons, browse the insects of Texas, where the American burying beetle also occurs, or return to the main guide to beetles in Massachusetts for the common species you are more likely to meet.