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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Adephaga » Predaceous Diving Beetles (Dytiscidae) » Cybistrinae » Cybister

Genus Cybister

Classification · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Remarks · See Also · Print References · Works Cited

Cybister fimbriolatus, ventral view - Cybister fimbriolatus

Large dull dark green beetle - Cybister fimbriolatus

Texas - Cybister fimbriolatus? - Cybister fimbriolatus

Cybister fimbriolatus female - Cybister fimbriolatus - female

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Coleoptera (Beetles)

Suborder Adephaga

Family Dytiscidae (Predaceous Diving Beetles)

Subfamily Cybistrinae

Genus Cybister

Explanation of Names

Cybister Curtis 1827

Greek cybister 'diver'

Numbers

3 spp. in our area(1), ~100 total(2)

Size

our spp.: adults 26‒34 mm, larvae up to ~80 mm

Identification

key to spp. in (1)

Hind legs broad. Metatarsal claws unequal, inner one smaller, sometimes absent. Metatarsi have fringe on outer margin, lacking in Dytiscus. Larvae with a frontal tooth on the head and no cerci.

Range

by far most diverse in the Old World tropics(3); in our area, mainly so.US (only C. fimbriolatus reaches Canada); the range of this genus is considered complementary to that of Dytiscus, the latter being more common and diverse in norther latitudes(4)

in our area(1): C. fimbriolatus se. Canada to FL‒CA; C. explanatus OR‒CA‒NV; C. occidentalis extreme so.FL

Habitat

deeper, more open portions of ponds/lakes

Remarks

adults consumed as food in parts of Asia, Africa(5)(6)

See Also

Dytiscus • Hydrophilus

Print References

(7)

Works Cited

1.	Review of the genus Cybister Curtis, 1827 (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae: Dytiscinae: Cybistrini) in North America Miller K.B. 2013. Col. Bull. 67: 401‒410.

2.	A World Catalogue of the Family Dytiscidae, or the Diving Beetles (Coleoptera, Adephaga) Nilsson and Hajek. 2019. Distributed by authors.

3.	Keys to the insects of the Far East of the USSR, Vol. 3. Coleoptera I Lehr P.A., ed. 1989. Leningrad, Nauka Publishing House, 572 pp.

4.	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.

5.	The Water Beetles of Florida Epler J.H. 2010. Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Tallahassee. 414 pp.

6.	DeFoliart G.R. (2002) The human use of insects as a food resource: a bibliographic account in progress

7.	Water Beetles of South Carolina Janet Ciegler. 2003. Clemson University.

Contributed by Cotinis on 7 April, 2005 - 10:31pm
Additional contributions by Mike Quinn, ceiseman, t.loh, v belov
Last updated 1 August, 2024 - 8:42pm

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