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Great Diving Beetle
(Dytiscus marginalis)
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I've scheduled the posts and a few tweets but wont have access to t'internet while I'm away so sorry I wont be able to talk with you all this week. In case I haven't got the technology right Dad's on standby, he's all right with his new nickname by the way :-)
So what's first in my theme - well it's a Great Diving Beetle I found in my garden. Here's a few facts I found about these not so little guys:
- They are a fairly common beetle found across most of the UK.
- They are one of our largest beetles and are around 3cm in length.
- They are pond predators and they eat anything from small invertebrates, through to tadpoles and even small fish which you can see in the video here.
- They have to come to the surface to replenish their air supply, they don't have gills, but store air under their wing cases.
- The wingcases are how you identify the sex, males are smooth and the females are ribbed.
- I found the one in my photo on the road. It seems they fly at night looking for new territories and can mistake glass or roads for water.
- When they are threatened they release a nasty smelling liquid from their bottoms which puts predators off eating them.
- Females lay eggs in a hole they cut in plants and the larvae hatch after a few weeks. They have big pincers and look a bit like scorpions. they can grow to 5cm before they pupate into the adults.
Well, they're quite a fascinating insect so if you want to find out more try these sites:
Hope you enjoyed,
Z.
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