Basic swimmer

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Basic swimmer
Laccophilus minutus.jpg

Ground swimmer ( Laccophilus minutus )

Systematics
Superclass : Six-footed (Hexapoda)
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Beetle (Coleoptera)
Family : Swimming beetles (Dytiscidae)
Genre : Laccophilus
Type : Basic swimmer
Scientific name
Laccophilus minutus
( Linnaeus , 1758)

The basic float ( Laccophilus minutus ) is a beetle from the family of diving beetles (Dytiscidae). It is one of the most common swimming beetles in Central Europe. Laccophilus (Gr.) Means "one who likes to live in a pond (in a cistern)".

features

The beetles are quite small, they are only 4.2 to 4.8 millimeters long. Their body is oval and high domed. They are greenish-brown in color with faded lines and spots. On the wings there are fine, black dots arranged in rows. The sides of the wings are a little lighter in color. The scutellum is covered. The pronotum is a single color, dark yellow and is triangular in the center at the base. The tarsi of the front and middle pairs of legs are four-limbed. The hips ( coxa ) of the hind legs do not have a stridulation apparatus. The tarsi of the hind legs are broad.

Occurrence

Basic swimmers come from Europe and North Africa east to West Asia and Turkestan and can be found in almost every water hole and also in flowing waters. They are very common everywhere.

Way of life

The animals prefer to stay on wood or on the surface of the water, they feed on small aquatic insects and usually lay their eggs between leaves floating on the surface of the water or between moss on the edge of the bank. Basic swimmers can fly very well and take off directly from the water.

literature

  • Karl Wilhelm Harde, Frantisek Severa and Edwin Möhn: The Kosmos Käferführer: The Central European Beetles. Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co KG, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-440-06959-1 .
  • Edmund Reitter : Fauna Germanica - The beetles of the German Empire. Volume 1 p. 220, KG Lutz, Stuttgart 1912
  • Edmund Reitter: Fauna Germanica - The beetles of the German Empire. 5 volumes, Stuttgart KG Lutz 1908–1916, digital library volume 134, Directmedia Publishing GmbH, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-898-53534-7
  • Helmut Schwab: Freshwater animals . Klett Verlag, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-12-125530-4 .