Shiny Olive-green 3-inch…Beetle?
July 23, 2009
I did not kill this bug!! He was lying on our bumper when we got out of our car at the New York Aquarium in Brooklyn, New York (right by the water on Coney Island). We had driven up from the Washington, DC, area that day and I’m not sure how long he was on board. He was about three inches long and a shiny olive color. If you could just get me started I’m sure I could find him, but all my searches turn up metallic looking bugs, which he was not. Thanks you!!
Hawke
Brooklyn, NY, USA
Giant Black Water Beetle
Hi Hawke,
This is some species of Water Beetle, either a Water Scavenger in the family Hydrophilidae, or a Predaceous Diving Beetle in the family Dytiscidae. According to BugGuide: “Water scavengers have keeled sternum, come up for air head first. Diving beetles have unkeeled sternum, come up for air tail first.” We are inclined to ID this as the Water Scavenger, Hydrophilus triangularis, which BugGuide describes as: “Large, shiny black with olive tinge. Underside with prominent spine (prosternal process). Similar to the usually smaller H. (Dibolocelus) ovatus. H. triangluaris is more oblong, H. ovatus more oval. H. ovatus is more common southward.” The common name is the Giant Black Water Beetle.
Confirmation from Eric Eaton
Daniel:
The giant black water beetle is indeed Hydrophilus triangularis.
Eric
Found this picture http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/showimage/5301/ which sure looks like him.
Thanks! I was stumped.
My husband says he saved him to put by the computer… if he is intact I’ll try to take a better picture. He was quite an impressive creature and I didn’t see any others on What’s That Bug.
Thanks!
Hawke
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Posted 24 July 2009
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Surprised while on a tadpole rescue!
Wed, May 20, 2009 at 3:35 PM
My children, husband and I are avid nature lovers. One May night at the local ballpark my children showed my husband a drying up “creek” bed with hundreds of tadpoles and frog eggs in it. My daughter and I had already been performing tadpole rescue on a water catch next to our drvieway that day. Needless to say the next day the kids and I went to rescue those tadpoles. While driving my son said the worm in his container was freaking him out. I thought he was talking about the tadpoles. When I began pouring them into their new home this worm took off chewing through the eggs. I quickly scooped it out. We watched it and noticed that it has six legs, large pincers, and appears to breathe through an orifice in its tail. I thought it might be a juvenile dragonfly, I checked your site (which we use frequently) and have found noth ing like it. Thanks for your help.
Jodie
Atlanta, TX
Water Tiger
Dear Jodie,
It was in our budding fascination with aquaria in our youth that we first heard the name Water Tiger to describe the larvae of the Predacious Water Beetles in the genus Dytiscus, though according to BugGuide, Predacious Water Beetle and Water Tiger apply to the entire family Dytiscidae. Here is what William T. Innes wrote in 1935 in Exotic Aquarium Fishes: “Water Tiger This sleek, spindle-shaped creature is the larval form of a large Water Beetle (Dytiscus), which itself is also a powerful enemy of fishes. There are several species, but in effect, as far as the aquarist is concerned, they are all one. … The pincers, or mandibles, are hollow, and through these they rapidly suck the blood of their victims. Growth is rapid and they soon attain a size where they attack tadpoles, fishes or any living thing into which they can bury their strong bloodsuckers. Theirs is one of those appetites which ‘grows by what it feeds upon,’ and they move steadily from victim to victim. … What helps make these larvae so deadly is that they are good swimmers. … The Water Tiger breathes air through its rear end and, therefore, must occasionally come to the surface.”
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Posted 21 May 2009
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