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

Genus Hydrochara

Beetle - Hydrochara Water Beetle 2227 - Hydrochara Hydrophilid - Hydrochara occulta Water Beetle - Hydrochara Hydrophilus triangularis? - Hydrochara Keeled beetle, maybe Hydrochara soror? - Hydrochara Hydrochara ?  - Hydrochara Hydrochara
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Coleoptera (Beetles)
Suborder Polyphaga
No Taxon (Series Staphyliniformia)
Superfamily Hydrophiloidea
Family Hydrophilidae (Water Scavenger Beetles)
Subfamily Hydrophilinae
Tribe Hydrophilini
Genus Hydrochara
Explanation of Names
Hydrochara Berthold 1827
'water-loving'
Numbers
8 Nearctic species

Hydrochara brevipalpis Smetana
Hydrochara leechi Smetana
Hydrochara lineata (LeConte)
Hydrochara obtusata (Say)
Hydrochara occulta (d'Orchymont)
Hydrochara rickseckeri (Horn)
Hydrochara soror Smetana
Hydrochara spangleri Smetana
Size
12-19 mm
Identification
Medium-sized water scavengers with spine (prosternal process) on underside; spine does not project past hind coxae; species identification is challenging, and there have been some recent changes in taxonomy (e.g., several species split out from H. obtusata) --see(1)
Key to species in Smetana (1980)(2).
Range
Holarctic - Map (3)(4)
Habitat
Ponds, streams, ditches, salt marshes. May be collected (overwintering?) from under stones and logs near streams. Come to lights during the summer.
Season
Feb-Nov (H. soror in SC)
Life Cycle
larva
Remarks
Attracted to lights
Print References
Smetana, A. 1980. Revision of the genus Hydrochara Berth. (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae). Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Canada 112. 1-100.
Works Cited
1.Water Beetles of South Carolina
Janet Ciegler. 2003. Clemson University.
2.Revision of the genus Hydrochara Berth. (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae)
Smetana, A. 1980. Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Canada 112: 1-100.
3.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.
4.Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)