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Mila'sExotic Plants & CuriositiesA living collection by Luminary OdditiesLuminary Oddities · Natural history & art
Dytiscus marginalis
Coleoptera / Dytiscidae
Dytiscus marginalis is a large predatory water beetle with a streamlined dark body and pale yellow margins. Males have adhesive pads on their forelegs, while females occur in both grooved and smooth wing-cover forms.
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Dytiscus marginalis belongs to Dytiscidae, the predaceous diving-beetle family. [5]
Adults hunt aquatic insects, tadpoles and small fish. Larvae have prominent curved jaws and take tadpoles and other insects; they can also prey on one another. [2]
Adults replenish the air held beneath the wing covers by raising the abdominal tip to the surface. They can leave the water and fly between ponds. [2]
In the Japanese female-morph study, a male descended from a smooth-winged mother had the same examined mitochondrial COI sequence as a known grooved female. The result supported two female forms within the studied subspecies. [4]
Keep the enclosure closed and display it in indirect light, away from heat and damp conditions. Handle the frame by its edges and clean only its exterior according to the maker’s instructions.
Natural History Museum, London · Accessed 2026-10-13
Reading Museum Service · Accessed 2026-10-13
New Forest National Park Authority · Accessed 2026-10-13
Inoda, Suzuki, Ohta & Kubota; Entomological Science 15, 357–360 (2012) · Accessed 2026-10-13
GBIF Secretariat · Accessed 2026-10-13
Sources checked 2026-10-13. Illustrations · Luminary Oddities.
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