back
back


Laccophilus, underside
enlarge under side
Laccophilus 28-06-99   Laccophilus 28-06-99 detail
Laccophilus cf. minutus

You can read the name of this nice, 5 millimeters long beetle like this: Lacco - philus = lake - loving, the adjective minutus stands for small, that's because this species is generally a little bit smaller than the almost identical species hyalinus, from the Greek hualos: glass. This on the account of the transparency of the shield and front wings. But minutus is also very transparent: on the right picture, which is a cropped detail image, you can see the brain and the optical nerves through the head shield. You may also see the hind wings through the elytra (front wings). The abbreviation cf. (confer) means It's not sure the species name is correct. When in rest this beetle holds his hind legs completely under the abdomen, not like most diving beetles, on which you see the feet of the hind legs stand up like the little wings on Hermes helmet.

These facts are also clearly visible on the picture of the under side (click on the most left picture).


back
back to: W A T E R B E E T L E S ( 1 )

COPYRIGHT:
All pictures on this site were made by Gerard Visser (Aadorp, Netherlands), unless stated otherwise. All rights remain with him. These pictures may not be used for purposes any other than private viewing or printing. Do NOT hardlink to these pictures or place them on other websites without the author's approval. Should you need them for purposes which include third parties, you must ask the author permission by e-mail. People, who want to use this pictures for exhibitions or publications or educative material are much encouraged to do so, after approval as mentioned and giving the normal credits.
© G.H. Visser 14-05-2008
rev. 06-09-2008

www.microcosmos.nl

Valid XHTML 1.0!