Subject: Crazy looking flying something
Geographic location of the bug: Bellingham washington
Date: 10/24/2017
Time: 12:33 PM EDT
Good day,
I was outside just as it was getting dark and I heard a weird bug flying around. Well it was a big something and then I notice a few more over by the house. It’s fall time here and nights get down to the 40’s.
I am sending a phone I took please feel free to use it.
How you want your letter signed: TJA
Dear TJA,
These are Predaceous Diving Beetles in the family Dytiscidae, but it is going to take someone with more expertise in the family to provide you with a species identification. Though they are primarily aquatic, as you observed, they are capable of flight. According to BugGuide: “Adults with long hairs on hind tibiae and other modifications for swimming; move their hind legs together like oars, like Backswimmers do.”