Diving Beetles: Underwater Insect Predators

It's fun to sit by the side of a lake or pond and look at all the little critters skittering around the top of the water and diving into it to catch their dinner. One very interesting bug you may want to learn a bit about is the diving beetle. This arthropod is a very "successful predator hunting and eating prey to live." It goes through a four-stage metamorphosis, ending with the adult stage. Their primary goal in life appears to be hunting and they are so fierce some people call them "water tigers." One big help are their compound eyes that can "look in all directions at once." Try getting past a critter that can do that! This beetle has a special way of transporting oxygen underwater, somewhat like scuba gear, in order to stay down for as long as fifteen minutes. You will learn how this beetle attacks its prey, how the composition of its body makes it an excellent swimmer, how it kills its prey, their larvae, how they hunt, their growth and molting patterns, when and why they decide to fly, how they hibernate through the winter, how they find a mate, their eggs and hatchlings. Did you know that "adult diving beetles have been timed kicking as fast as twice a second?" This is a very interesting book that young bug lovers will grab for. There are numerous full color, close up photographs that are simply amazing. There are several scattered beetle facts throughout the book. In the back of the book is a short statistical section, a short discussion about three other insect predators, an index, a glossary activities and additional recommended book and website resources. This is one of eight books in the "Insect World Series," an excellent science series you might wish to consider for your library, classroom or homeschool shelves!