Dytiscidae

The Dytiscidae, from the Ancient Greek word δυτικός (dutikós), meaning "able to dive", are the predaceous diving beetles, a family of water beetles. They occur in virtually any freshwater habitat around the world, but a few species live in terrestrial habitats such as among leaf litter. The "diving" in their common name comes from their cycling between underwater and the surface to replenish oxygen like a diver. The adults of most are between 1 and 2.5 cm (0.4–1.0 in) long, though much variation is seen between species. The European Dytiscus latissimus and Brazilian Bifurcitus ducalis are the largest, reaching up to 4.5 and 4.75 cm respectively, although the latter is listed as extinct by the IUCN. In contrast, the smallest is likely the Australian Limbodessus atypicali of subterranean waters, which only is about 0.9 mm (0.035 in) long. Most are dark brown, blackish, or dark olive in color with golden highlights in some subfamilies. The larvae are commonly known as water tigers due to their voracious appetite. They have short, but sharp mandibles, and immediately upon biting, they deliver digestive enzymes into prey to suck their liquefied remains. The family includes more than 4,000 described species in numerous genera. The oldest of the species is †Palaeodytes gutta, from the Late Jurassic according to Karabastau Formation fossils.

Dytiscidae

This image is created by user Wim Rubers at Waarneming.nl , a source of nature observations in the Netherlands. · CC BY 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
predaceous diving beetlePBDB
Sits inside
AdephagaPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Arthropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Insecta

Time the record covers

At least 174 million years on record.

The record covers at least 174.7 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 184.2 Mya to 0 Mya.

Early Jurassic — about 2 of 375 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 0 of 375 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 1 of 375 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 18 of 375 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 2 of 375 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 1 of 375 occurrencesEocene — about 37 of 375 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 17 of 375 occurrencesMiocene — about 69 of 375 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 7 of 375 occurrencesPleistocene — about 221 of 375 occurrences188–182 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences182–175 Mya — about 1 occurrence175–169 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences157–150 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences150–144 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences144–138 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences138–132 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences132–125 Mya — about 2 occurrences125–119 Mya — about 12 occurrences119–113 Mya — about 3 occurrences106–100 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences100–94 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences94–88 Mya — about 1 occurrence63–56 Mya — about 1 occurrence56–50 Mya — about 2 occurrences50–44 Mya — about 3 occurrences44–38 Mya — about 2 occurrences38–31 Mya — about 34 occurrences31–25 Mya — about 10 occurrences25–19 Mya — about 8 occurrences19–13 Mya — about 45 occurrences13–6.3 Mya — about 19 occurrences6.3–0 Mya — about 229 occurrences174.7 Mya129 ka188 Mya0 Mya

375 occurrences of Dytiscidae on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

375 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

43 formations

Kap København — 82.47°N, 23.66°WKap København — 82.45°N, 24.10°WKap København — 82.32°N, 23.85°WKap København — 82.35°N, 24.05°WKap København — 82.39°N, 24.18°WKap København — 82.35°N, 24.25°WBarstow — 34.95°N, 116.83°WBarstow — 34.94°N, 116.83°WHighbury Silts and Sands — 51.56°N, 0.06°WYixian — 41.62°N, 120.83°EYixian — 41.54°N, 118.92°EUpper Freshwater-Molasse — 47.67°N, 8.93°EFlorissant — 38.92°N, 105.28°WFlorissant — 38.93°N, 105.24°WRott — 50.75°N, 7.26°ERott — 50.75°N, 7.26°ERott — 50.60°N, 7.25°EKaragan — 45.05°N, 42.32°EScarborough — 43.67°N, 79.32°WScarborough — 43.70°N, 79.24°WOlympia beds — 47.66°N, 122.43°WBouldnor — 50.74°N, 1.36°WTitusville Till — 41.62°N, 79.64°WTsubusagawa — 33.40°N, 131.35°EOokui — 36.34°N, 138.34°EMizozono — 31.98°N, 130.74°EOler — 69.50°N, 158.50°EKeremesit — 69.17°N, 158.12°ETsumori — 32.79°N, 130.86°EHirabaru — 33.40°N, 131.64°ESaijo — 34.38°N, 132.72°EMazantic Shale — 17.15°N, 92.70°WCampagne-Calavon — 43.85°N, 5.58°EShanwang — 36.55°N, 118.71°EEifel — 50.11°N, 6.82°E

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The named rock units Dytiscidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 19 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 128 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Dytiscidae and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Dytiscidae and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

5,087 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 178 sites for Dytiscidae, and this reads all of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

90 references

Each of the 375 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 78 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Dytiscidae

Credit
This image is created by user Wim Rubers at Waarneming.nl , a source of nature observations in the Netherlands.
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itAdephaga through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Leach 1815