Predacious diving beetles[]
Arthropods (Arthropoda)---Insects (Insecta)---Beetles (Coleoptera)---Ground and water beetles (Adephaga)---Predaceous diving beetles (Dytiscidae)
Diving beetles, as their name suggests, dive, and are found in larger, deeper bodies of water than most Pond skaters and Water boatmen; they swim around underneath the surface using their well adapted hind legs for "paddling", their front and middle legs used for grasping onto aquatic plants and prey. The larger Diving beetles feed on tadpoles and small fish.
Strangely and surprisingly these beetles are more adapted to surving on land than in water, they cannot breathe underwater and instead go to the surface and collect a bubble of air which they hold under their Elytra and breathe from. On occasion a beetle may exit its home pond and fly to seek out a new one, on the way they may crash or simply stop on the ground on a reflection (which they mistake for water), where their oar-like hind legs make them rather awkard and clumsy moving over land. Even rarer is having these attracted to lights at night, but it does happen sometimes, and they can be occampanied by other pond-dwelling insects. Males can normally be identified from females by the smooth surface of the elytra, females have many grooves along theirs. A strange occurence with all pond-dwelling insects is when they congregate on car windows and roofs late in the day, apparently they mistake the sun's reflection for water as they do land on shiny surfaces when seeking a new pond, an example of this can be seen on the water beetle and Pond skater pages
13th April, 2008. Larva found at the John Janzen nature centre.
13th April, 2008.
Hydaticus aruspex
Species[]
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| Large Predacious diving beetle | Dytiscus circumcinctus | Mid-sized Predacious diving beetle | Rhantus sericans |
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| Tiny Diving beetle | ??? ??? | Bi-coloured Diving beetle | Hygrotus sellatus |
  13th April, 2008. |
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