Beetle-Flounder

Probably, many watched such a picture when from the depths of the reservoir a large dark beetle with an oval corpse, bordered by a yellow strip along the breast shields and elytra, rises to the surface. It is an insect belonging to the family of water coleoptera, a beetle-beetle. The photo shows how bright and attractive it can be.

In the world there are more than four thousand species, and in Russia - about three hundred species in fourteen areas. Beetle-buzzards inhabit deep ponds with standing water, rich in vegetation and animals. Plavunets is a predator. Reservoirs with a scanty population will not be able to provide the beetles with a sufficient supply of food. Since the Flounder is the most insatiable water predator, he is not limited to eating small aquatic animals, sometimes attacking fish or newts. It can attack livestock, larger in size than himself.

The beetle itself is unattractive for predatory animals, since it has impressive arguments against those who wish to profit. In case of danger, a floater from under the breast shield releases a fountain of whitish caustic liquid, in addition, he is helped by color. For waterfowl the beetle is hardly noticeable.

Periodically, a beetle-beetle emerges from the water, exposing the back of its body, and hangs in this position for a while. Why does he write such somersaults? The fact is that his respiratory system is arranged in such a way that oxygen enters through the spiracle, located at the end of the abdomen. During the ascent to the surface, an air valve opens, and so the beetle receives a portion of oxygen. Soon the floater again plunges into the water, taking with it a bubble of air under the elytra. He needs a beetle not so much as an air supply, but as a hydrostatic device. Having spent an oxygen reserve, the floater again rises to the surface of the water. Typically, a beetle buzz floats up every eight minutes.

Since the body of a beetle is lighter than water, the float floats to the surface without any effort (the water simply pushes it out), but immersion requires considerable effort and intensive movements. To stay under water, the beetle is forced to cling to any water objects - seaweed, sticks, stones and so on. His front limbs, equipped with sharp hooks, help him to get caught.

Males have sucker discs on the front pair of limbs. They help to attach to objects with a smooth surface, and also serve as a kind of device for capturing the female during mating. It is believed that these suckers work with the help of sticky, water insoluble in water. Female individuals do not have suction cups, so their ukrels have a larger number of furrows, although females sometimes also occur with smooth elytra.

Due to well-developed wings the beetle is able to leave its pond and fly deep into the land for considerable distances. A beetle-beetle, this is a pretty strong insect. In the water, it helps to move a paddle, overgrown with hairs, the rear pair of extremities. Like the oarsman, the buoyancy overcomes the density of water and sometimes develops a speed at which it is able to move faster than some fish.

Drilling holes in the plants, the female lays eggs, from which the larvae appear, and at the end of its development the larva crawls out onto the land and pupates. A few weeks later a chubby beetle appears from the pupa, returns to the water, and life continues.