Diving beetle (Antiporus)

Taxonomic group

Dytiscidae: Antiporus

Diagnostic features

Antiporus is one of the dytiscid “diving beetles” having larvae and adults that are active swimmers. The larvae have a spoon-like “nose” supporting side barbs. The adults are oval and streamlined, up to 5mm long, with 11-segmented antennae, and the last segment of the foreleg is longer than the other tarsal segments.

[Antiporus] adult with long 4th segment for fore tarsus. Image: Stephen Moore Image — Antiporus adult with long 4th segment for fore tarsus. Image: Stephen Moore

[Antiporus] larva with barbs on spoon-like “nose”. Image: Stephen Moore Image — Antiporus larva with barbs on spoon-like “nose”. Image: Stephen Moore

Typical habitats

Antiporus are most common in ponds, wetlands and slow-flowing weedy streams.

Feeding

The dytiscid beetles are predators, feeding on other pond invertebrates.

Indicator value

Hard bottom: 5
Soft bottom: 3.5

The tolerance values (ranging from 0 to 10) give an indication of which are the sensitive taxa (values of 8 or more) and which are the tolerant taxa (values of 3 or less). For more information see: Indicator species

The presence of Antiporus is more likely to reflect pond-like habitat conditions rather than any particular water quality conditions. They have medium to low tolerance values of 5 (hard bottom sites) and 3.5 (soft bottom sites).