Diving Beetle life cycle - Australian Museum

Image: Diving Beetle life cycle

Description

Diving beetles are insects. They have four stages in their life cycle: egg - larva - pupa - adult. They have a streamlined shape, a pair of thin antennae and three pairs of legs. Their back legs have a thick fringe of swimming hairs.

Illustrator:: Andrew Howells
Rights:: © Australian Museum
Common name:: Diving beetle
Scientific name:: Cybister tripunctatus

Additional information

Diving beetles are insects. They have four stages in their life cycle: egg - larva - pupa - adult.

Diving beetles have a streamlined shape, a pair of thin antennae and three pairs of legs. Their back legs have a thick fringe of swimming hairs.

Diving beetles live in ponds, lakes, billabongs and slow-running streams.

Diving beetles eat other invertebrates that live or fall into the water. Occasionally they also eat small tadpoles and fish. Adults tear larger prey into smaller pieces. Larvae pierce and pump digestive juices into their prey. They then suck out the liquefied remains.

Fish, frogs and water spiders like to eat diving beetles.

Adult diving beetles breathe by storing oxygen in a bubble underneath their wing cases.

Larvae have a siphon (like a snorkel) coming out the end of their body. They stick this siphon out of the water to get oxygen to breathe.

When diving beetles breed, the male fertilises the female's eggs internally. Female beetles often deposit their eggs into aquatic plants by making cuts in the stem.

Adult diving beetles often fly from one pond to another. They use light reflected from the water to find ponds. Sometimes they get confused, as light reflected off glass can look the same.

Last Updated: 11 August 2009

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