ENY 3005 Family Identification

Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae

 Common name: water scavenger beetles

Identifying characteristics for the family Hydrophilidae include:

• First abdominal sternite entire, not divided by hind coxae (suborder Polyphaga).
• Antennae with 4-segmented club, usually well concealed, shorter than maxillary palpi (cf Dytiscidae).
• Hind legs fringed with "hairs".
• Metasternal spine present on some species.
• Adults 1- to 40-mm long; body oval or elliptical, convex dorsally.
• Tarsi 5-5-5 or 5-4-4.

• Most species are aquatic with predaceous larvae and herbivorous adults.
• A few species are "terrestrial" in dung and other moist habitats.
• About 34 genera and 225 species in North America.

References:

• Pages 156-157 in D. J. Borror and R. E. White. 1970. A Field Guide to the Insects. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.
• Pages 104-108 in R. E. White. 1983. A Field Guide to Beetles of North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 368 p.
• Page 417 in D. J. Borror, C. A. Triplehorn, and N. F. Johnson. 1989. An Introduction to the Study of Insects, 6th ed. Philadelphia: Saunders College Publishing. 875 p.
• Page 464 in H. V. Daly, J. T. Doyen, and A. H. Purcell III. 1998. Introduction to Insect Biology and Diversity, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press. 680 p.
• Page 193 in R. G. Bland and H. E. Jaques. 1978. How to Know the Insects, 3rd ed. Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown Co. 409 p.