Diving beetle

The Diving Beetle, also known as the Water Beetle in, is a common insect found in rivers and ponds, swimming and diving. It is worth 800 bells. It appears during the months of May through to September.

Diving Beetles live in the river, and dart around similar to Pond Skaters. It spends most of its time submerged, revealing a shadow, and to catch this insect, you must swing your net when it is on the surface.

They can also occur during rain.

In City Folk
Upon donation the Museum, Blathers will say;

"While they're marginally less odious as adults...dive beetles are horrific in their larval stage! These wretched youths are twice the size of the adults and wield a large poison barb. Foul villainy! Then again, I suppose the adults aren't much better. They're both completely objectionable, really..."

It can be found in the bottom-left hand enclosure in the insect exhibition, in the small pond.

City Folk

 * Size: About 38 mm
 * Season: Summer
 * Time: Morning-Dusk
 * These are said to have short but strong pincers. Ouch!

Further Information
Adult beetles have a streamlined, dorsoventrally-compressed bodies. Most species are brown to black but some have distinctive patterns of spots, lines, or mottling on the wing covers. The aquatic larvae are not frequently seen and have a long thorax and long legs. The head bears conspicuous large sickle-shaped mandibles without teeth. Despite being aquatic, the beetles cannot breathe underwater and must surface frequently to collect air supply. Most species compress oxygen into a silvery bubble underneath their body which allows them to breathe even when far from the surface.

Predaceous diving beetles are easily confused with water scavenger beetles (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae).