Water Crawling Beetle

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Coleoptera

Family: Haliplidae

You might see these beetles scrambling through the water as they snack on aquatic plants, especially algae. These insects, as adults, need to breathe air. Luckily, they’ve got a pretty neat trick up their sleeve! A section of their hind legs closest to their body are modified and flattened into “coxal plates” covering part of their underside. This creates an extra space to carry a bubble oxygen for breathing underwater in addition to the air they carry under their wing covers!