RXwildlife Sightings

This insect, feeling rather like a limp saggy balloon with a pair of ferocious jaws, is not one of our most beautiful species, but it is probably one of the characteristic insects of the East Sussex/Kent grazing marshes.

It is the larva of a great silver beetle Hydrophilus piceus and was one of three taken in a ditch at East Guldeford this week together with an adult.  Those jaws are used by the larvae to break through the shells of pond snails.

This is our largest water beetle - the adults are 4 cm long, and it is frequently taken in moth traps.  Strange as it may seem many water beetles are good fliers, and need to be to disperse to new habitats.  One of the more bizarre natural history experiences I have had was of an adult crashing onto the roof of my car, presumeably mistaking it for a pond!

 Although primarily an insect of grazing marsh ditches I also found adults this spring in a superb pond at the Pestalozzi international Village at Sedlescomb  

Posted in Insects | by Brian Banks