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Sticker of Great diving beetle
Bug card No. 2017 of 4,939

Great diving beetle

Dytiscus marginalis
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsBeetlesPonds, rivers and shores6 legs

The great diving beetle is a big water beetle and a super swimmer. Its back is dark brown, green or black, and its belly, legs and the edges of its body are yellow. It is a fierce hunter in ponds and lakes.

Lives in
Europe and northern Asia, in ponds, lakes and slow streams with lots of water plants
Length
2.7 to 3.5 cm (1.1 to 1.4 in)
Top speed
about 1.9 km/h (1.2 mph)
Swimming, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Better not touch
Its jaws are strong for its size and it can give a painful nip. Watch it swim, but do not pick it up.
What does it eat?
It hunts all kinds of water animals, even small fish. Its babies are fierce hunters too.
For real!Photo of Great diving beetle
Picture by photo by E van Herk (User Evanherk ) on en.wikipedia. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Great diving beetle about 3.5 cm long (1.4 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
as long as 6 grains of rice in a rowcould swim the length of a bathtub in 3.8 seconds

How big is Great diving beetle compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Before it dives, it tucks a bubble of air under its wing cases, like a little scuba tank.

2

Its baby, the larva, can grow up to 6 centimetres long, even longer than the grown-up beetle.

3

It flies at night and finds new ponds by the shine of moonlight on the water. Sometimes it lands on wet, shiny roads by mistake.

4

The male has little suction cups on his front legs to hold on tight.

5

The mother lays her eggs inside the leaves of water plants. They hatch after 17 to 19 days.

you asked

Most asked questions about Great diving beetle

?Does the great diving beetle bite?

It can give a painful nip with its strong jaws, so it is best not to hold it.

?How does a diving beetle breathe underwater?

It takes a bubble of air down with it under its wing cases.

?What does the great diving beetle eat?

Other water animals, including insects and small fish.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Dytiscus marginalis
Group
Beetles
Family
Dytiscidae
Classification
Insecta > Coleoptera > Dytiscidae
Lives on
Europe, Asia

Where the facts come from

  1. Great diving beetle (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by photo by E van Herk (User Evanherk ) on en.wikipedia. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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More from the same group: Beetles

Also at home here: Ponds, rivers and shores

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