DIVING BEETLE

This picture comes from Encarta.

Diving beetles are predators of aquatic life. They swim by simultaneous strokes of the hind legs which are fringed with hairs which flatten out like a paddle. (The Hardened Elytra or wing covers, which are usually grooved in the female and smooth in the male.) They breathe from an air bubble under the wing covers taken when they come to the surface. The adults hibernate in the underwater soil during a large part of the year, but are usually active in spring, when they feed on insects.