Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Genus Bidessonotus

Bidessonotus sp. - Bidessonotus Dystiscid - Bidessonotus Dystiscid - Bidessonotus Dytiscidae  - Bidessonotus Dytiscidae  - Bidessonotus Tiny diver 1 - Bidessonotus Yet anothor small Dytiscid and in the Tribe Bidessini? - Bidessonotus Yet anothor small Dytiscid and in the Tribe Bidessini? - Bidessonotus
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
Tribe Bidessini
Genus Bidessonotus
Explanation of Names
Bidessonotus Régimbart 1895
Numbers
the largest bidessine genus in the New World (37 spp. total, 4 in our area)(1)
Size
1.7-2.4 mm
Identification
easily diagnosed by the pentamerous pro- & mesotarsi (in other Bidessini, tarsomere IV small and concealed in the lobes of III); strongly curved mesotibiae in males and a distinctly concave venter in males(1)
sexually dimorphic: female stouter than male and has preapical "tooth" on outer margin of each elytron
In B. longovalis, elytral plicae are distinctly longer than pronotal plicae.
In other species, females are only identifiable by association with males, and male id requires dissection
Range
se Canada & e US to Argentina, most diverse in northern S America; in our area, B. inconspicuus widespread in the east and 3 spp. restricted to Gulf states + GA(1)
Habitat
ditches, ponds, streams, woodland pools