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| Insects of Britain and Ireland: water beetles |
Adults. Beetles terrestrial to sub-aquatic, or aquatic; walking in water or free-swimming by conventional ambulatory motion of the legs, not diving strongly; moving in the water by alternate, walking leg movements; when aquatic, replenishing air for respiration beneath the elytra indirectly from that acquired and held in a ventral plastron; when aquatic, replenishing air in the ventral plastron by exserting both antennae at the water surface, or replenishing air in the ventral plastron by exserting both antennae at the water surface and incorporating bubbles of oxygen directly into the plastron (?); 1.9–7 mm long. Body length/maximum body width 1.3–2.55. Beetles somewhat waisted.
Eyes two; not strongly protuberant; without bristles. Mandibles with a well developed mola; with well developed prosthecae. The maxillae with distinct galea and lacinia apically to the palp. The maxillary palps conspicuously elongated, sometimes longer than the antennae. The maxillary palps conspicuously elongated, sometimes longer than the antennae. The apical segment of the maxillary palps cylindrical to fusiform. The apical segment of the labial palps not expanded apically. Antennae very short; not strongly asymmetric; 8 segmented, or 9 segmented. Antennal scape not swollen. Antennae clubbed. Antennal clubs 3 segmented (the club hairy); preceded by a cupule. Antennal insertions visible from above, or hidden from above.
Prothorax without notopleural sutures. The pronotum with five full length, longitudinal furrows. The mesoventrite not keeled, and without a dorsal point. The prosternal process present; incomplete; if present, falling short of the mesoventrite to slightly overlapping the mesoventrite. Mid-and hind-legs not as in Gyrinidae (q.v.). The fore-leg coxal cavities medianly confluent to narrowly separated. Hind coxae not extended laterally to meet the elytra; not shaped posteriorly to receive the femur. The hind coxae not produced behind into flat plates partly concealing the hind femora. Hind coxae without the steep transverse declivity characteristic of Dryopoidea. The inner parts (‘processes’) of the hind coxae not incorporated with the metasternum in a flat, median longitudinal keel. Tarsal segmentation formula 5, 5, 5. Some of the tarsi with a tiny basal segment that is hard to detect, or none of the tarsi with ‘hidden’ segments (?). The front tarsi with as many segments as the mid-tarsi; 5-segmented; apical segment longer than the rest together, or about as long as the rest together. Mid-leg tarsi 5-segmented; pentamerous. Hind tarsi equipped with ‘swimming hairs’, or without ‘swimming’ hairs. Hind tarsi with the second segment longest; with the second and apical segments almost equal in length. Swimming hairs confined to the tarsi.
Wings with an anal lobe, or without an anal lobe; without a medial fleck. The male external genitalia trilobate.
Adults not predacious. In diverse aquatic and wet habitats, including brackish.
Larvae. The larvae elongate and more or less parallel-sided; vestiture restricted to fine hairs or setae; only very lightly pigmented or sclerotized; only very lightly pigmented. The antennae 3 segmented. Stemmata 6. Frontoclypeal suture between frons and clypeus indistinct or absent. The labrum and head capsule completely fused, with no suture apparent. Apices of the mandibles with a single lobe or tooth. The maxillary palps 4 segmented. The labial palps 4 segmented. The mesothoracic legs 5 segmented (including the pretarsus); with 1 movable claw. Visible abdominal segments 10. Tergum 9 of the abdomen entirely dorsal.
The larvae aquatic. The abdomen exhibiting functional abdominal spiracles; having functional spiracles on anterior segments. The abdominal apex without a respiratory chamber. Abdominal tergum 8 without amature. The larvae predacious.
Representation in Britain and Ireland, and worldwide. About 20 species in Britain (including 17 aquatic species). Recorded from Scotland, Northern England, South-west England and Wales, South-eastern England, and Ireland.
Classification. Suborder Polyphaga; Infraorder Staphyliniformia; Superfamily Hydrophiloidea; Hydrophilidae; Subfamily Helophorinae.
Miscellaneous. • Helophorus rufipes (Broad Elophorus: B. Ent. 466). • Helophorus rufipes: B. Ent. 466, legend+text. • Helophorus rufipes: B. Ent. 466, text cont.. • Cercyon, Helophorus, Hydrochus, Laccobius and Sphaeridium (with Hydraenidae and Staphylinidae): Fowler Suppl. 3, 1913. HYDROPHILIDAE. 1, Laccobius atrocephalus. 2, Helophorus tuberculatus; 3, Helophorus rufipes. 4, Hydrochus nitidicollis. HYDRAENIDAE. 5, Ochthebius subinteger ssp. lejolisi. 6, Hydraena britteni. HYDROPHILIDAE. 7, Sphaeridium lunatum. 8, Cercyon littoralis var. binotatum. STAPHYLINIDAE. 9, Aleochara discipennis; 10, Aleochara moesta; 11, Aleochara maculata. 12, Oxypoda longipes; 13, Oxypoda perplexa. From Fowler's plate, with the names from the original legend (q.v.) updated. • Fowler Suppl. 3, 1913: original legend.. • 13 Helophorus species (from Joy, 1932).
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2012 onwards. Insects of Britain and Ireland: water beetles. Version: 14th April 2022. delta-intkey.com’.
