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Diving beetle

Guide to New Zealand's freshwater invertebrates

Diving beetle ( Dytiscidae : Hyphydrus )

Larva with spoon-like “nose” lacking side barbs
Adult with short 4th segment of fore tarsus

Diagnostic features

Hyphydrus is one of the dytiscid “diving beetles” having larvae and adults that are active swimmers. The larvae have a spoon-like “nose” that has no side barbs (unlike Antiporus). The adults are oval and streamlined, up to 5mm long, with 11-segmented antennae, and the last segment of the foreleg is shorter than the other tarsal segments.

Typical habitats

Hyphydrus are most common in ponds, wetlands and slow-flowing weedy streams

Feeding

The dytiscid beetles are predators, feeding on other pond invertebrates.

Indicator value

The presence of Hyphydrus is more likely to reflect pond-like habitat conditions rather than any particular water quality conditions. This genus has not been assigned tolerance values but the dytiscids have family scores of 5 (hard bottom sites) and 0.4 (soft bottom sites).