The larvae are large, fearsome-looking beasts, with big, biting jaws: they look a bit like pale brown, underwater Devil's Coach Horses. A predatory diving water beetle that feeds on feeds upon small invertebrates such as Daphnia, Mosquito larvae and other small vertebrate species, it has an almost worldwide distribution but primarily in North Western Europe and the UK. Until the water freezes over it remains active both day and night. Find local MDC conservation agents, consultants, education specialists, and regional offices. (probably sulcatus) swimming around in a pond. In the Guangdong Province of China, the latter species, as well as C. bengalensis, C. guerini, C. limbatus, C. sugillatus, C. tripunctatus, and probably also the well-known Great diving beetle (D. marginalis) are bred for human consumption, though as they are cumbersome to raise due to their carnivorous habit and have a fairly bland (though apparently not offensive) taste and little meat, this is decreasing. Although not considered particularly fierce, adults have been observed working as a group and attacking much larger vertebrates such as tadpoles. "A World Catalogue of the Family Dytiscidae, or the Diving Beetles (Coleoptera, Adephaga)", "The effectiveness of aquatic plants as surrogates for wider biodiversity in standing fresh waters", "Environmental determinants of diving beetle assemblages (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae) in an urban landscape", "Predaceous diving beetles (Coleoptera : Dytiscidae) may affect the success of amphibian conservation efforts", https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlx113, A World Catalogue of the Family Dytiscidae, or the Diving Beetles (Coleoptera, Adephaga), "Family-group names in Coleoptera (Insecta)", Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Chapter 26 - Eastern Asia: China, Japan, and other countries, List of subgroups of the order Coleoptera, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dytiscidae&oldid=995832147, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 23 December 2020, at 03:18. Remnants of C. explanatus were found in prehistoric human coprolites in a Nevada cave, likely sourced from the Humboldt Sink. The thin hairs can be found on the surface of long tail. The thin hairs can be found on the surface of long tail. The head is flat and square, with a pair of long, large pincers. Dytiscidae - Flickr - gailhampshire.jpg 2,136 × 1,736; 377 KB Female of Cantharis flavilabris - Flickr - gailhampshire (1).jpg 1,864 × 1,776; 450 KB Many water beetles are predators but others feed on algae and detritus. Adult males of some species have a special enlarged patch on the forelegs that helps them grasp the females during mating. A couple of weeks ago I noticed that the strange looking larva of the lesser diving beetle Acilius sp. Most, however, are somewhere in the middle. Here's a beetle larva I found (probably a lesser diving beetle) ffroglet 0; 10 Jun 2010 2:40 PM; Larvae prefer micro-invertebrate prey such as Daphnia, whereas adults select size appropriate prey. Two conspecific and similarly sized larvae were captured by the Field Methods Class seining on Tuesday in the pond; occupying the same dish for 24 hours resulted in a 50% drop in the population. The beetle overwinters in water that is deep enough not to freeze or dry out. Whirligig beetle head. When still in larval form, the beetles vary in size from about 1 to 5 cm (0.5 to 2.0 in). As with all things in nature it is a balancing act , the larvea may eat tadpoles etc but being large birds esp thrushes and blackbirds seem to be keen on them ( in my garden anyway) along with frogs, toads and newts , maybe revenge for eating their babies ? Helps distinguish them from the similar water scavenger beetles, sometimes with yellowish marks streamlined, shape. Is streamlined, oval, with a pair of long tail covered with thin hairs arson, Dytiscidae ( diving! 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