Spot the diving beetle (click for a closer view)
Diana has sent me a picture of one of her great diving beetle larvae hanging in its distinctive pose below the water surface of her pond – waiting for passing frogs!
The picture set me to wondering which of our six Great Diving Beetle species Diana had.
The commonest are the, well, Common Great Diving Beetle (Dytiscus marginalis) and the Black-bellied Great Diving Beetle (Dytiscus semisulcatus).
It’s probably less likely to be one of the four other species – the Lapland, Divided, Yellow-bellied and Green Great Diving Beetles, respectively Dytiscus lapponicus, D. dimidiatus, D. circumcinctus and D. circumflexus – as they usually have more specialised habitat requirements – but who knows?. (By the way, I’ve more or less made up those English names just now! – except Black-bellied and Common which are already in use).
There are close ups of several of the six species on the excellent Biopix site:
Black-bellied Great Diving Beetle
Divided Great Diving Beetle
Yellow-bellied Great Diving Beetle
