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Animal profile

Great Diving Beetle

Dytiscus marginalis

InsectaStill and slow fresh water: ponds, ditches, lake margins and weedy pools

Field profile

The great diving beetle is a large aquatic predator that hunts insect larvae, tadpoles and small fish. Adults are streamlined and fringe-legged, and both larvae and adults are voracious. Despite an aquatic life, the beetle breathes atmospheric air and flies between water bodies at night.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2024-12-06

Great Diving Beetle

The great diving beetle carries its air supply

This beetle spends its life underwater but never breathes water. It surfaces tail first, traps a bubble of air beneath the wing cases, and the bubble goes on drawing oxygen from the pond after the beetle submerges.

Read with evidence →

Great Diving Beetle | Daily Animal Facts