Great Silver Water Beetle (Hydrophilus piceus)

Appearance

"Hydrophilus piceus" is one of the larger water beetles, reaching a length of about 40 millimetres. The body is completely black, with red antennae. These beetles have needle-sharp spurs on their tibia. The adults are mainly vegetarian, while the larvae are carnivorous feding on tadpoles and snails.

Great Silver Water Beetle in thick vegetation pond, Netherlands I like the surprised look on the face of this Great Silver Water Beetle. This concerns one of Europe's largest beetles. It may be called a "scavenger" beetle yet adults feed pretty much only on plants. If you look closely, you can see 2 small antennae sticking out from below its mouth. During swimming it will use those as a snorkel, to breath under water.

This species is generally common, yet locally rare. It has a protected status, you're not allowed to capture or harm it. Should you just want to hold it, don't, as it has razor sharp spurs on its hind legs. Europe,Geotagged,Heesch,Hydrophilus piceus,Macro,Netherlands,The Netherlands

Distribution

This species is present in most of Europe, in the East Palearctic ecozone and in the Near East. It is doubtful on Balearic Islands.

References:

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Taxonomy
Kingdom	Animalia
Division	Arthropoda
Class	Insecta
Order	Coleoptera
Family	Hydrophilidae
Genus	Hydrophilus
Species	'''''H. piceus'''''

Photographed in
Estonia
Netherlands