Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar

TaxonomyBrowse
Info
ImagesLinksBooksData

Genus Hydrovatus

Hydrovatus peninsularis Young - Hydrovatus peninsularis Hydrovatus brevipes Sharp - Hydrovatus brevipes Unknown beetle - Hydrovatus pustulatus Hydrovatus platycornis - male Hydrovatus pustulatus Hydrovatus davidis - male Hydrovatus davidis - male Hydrovatus pustulatus
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Coleoptera (Beetles)
Suborder Adephaga
Family Dytiscidae (Predaceous Diving Beetles)
Subfamily Hydroporinae
Genus Hydrovatus
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
revised in (1)
Explanation of Names
Hydrovatus Motschulsky 1853
Numbers
8 spp. in our area, >210 total(2)(3)
Size
1.8-4.0 mm(4)
Identification
ket to eastern spp. in (5)
Range
worldwide; in NA, most of the US and se. Canada(1)
Habitat
in vegetation and detritus at lake/pond margins(2); usually in deeper water (down to 5 feet deep) than other dytiscid species, most burrowers in mud, detritus, and among aquatic plant roots(6)
Remarks
Difficult to collect due to deepwater habitat and the observation that they rarely surface for air(6); it has been postulated that they obtain air from the submerged stems of aquatic plants by puncturing them with their sharp elytral apices, hence allowing them to stay under water for much longer than other dytiscids(6). The best way to find these beetles is to collect entire emergent aquatic plants such as sedges and examine their roots as well as straining/sifting surrounding bottom debris.
our only representative of the tribe Hydrovatini Sharp 1882 that includes one more small neotropical genus(3)
Works Cited
1.Taxonomic revision of the genus Hydrovatus Motschulsky
Bistrom, O. 1997. Entomologica Basiliensia.
2.The Water Beetles of Florida
Epler J.H. 2010. Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Tallahassee. 414 pp.
3.A World Catalogue of the Family Dytiscidae, or the Diving Beetles (Coleoptera, Adephaga)
Nilsson and Hajek. 2019. Distributed by authors.
4.American Beetles, Volume I: Archostemata, Myxophaga, Adephaga, Polyphaga: Staphyliniformia
Arnett, R.H., Jr., and M. C. Thomas. (eds.). 2000. CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL.
5.A preliminary key to the species of Hydrovatus of the eastern United States (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae)
Young F.N. 1956. Col. Bull. 10: 53-54.
6.Predaceous Diving Beetles (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae) of the Nearctic Region, with emphasis on the fauna of Canada and Alaska
D.J. Larson, Y. Alarie, and R.E. Roughley. 2001. NRC 43253.