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NOTE: As of 2014, the California Beetle Project page is no longer updated. The original database and list of California beetles in the menu on the left will remain for the time being, but the information contained within is not necessarily current. SBMNH Entomology Curator Matthew L. Gimmel has divided up the function of the original database into two conceptual halves:

  1. The SBMNH Entomology specimen-level database, including all SBMNH beetle specimens included in the CBP database, which is now available (and ever-growing) through the ecdysis portal at https://serv.biokic.asu.edu/ecdysis/

  2. A literature- (and available specimen-)based checklist.
    3. of the Coleoptera of California, which is being revised and re-compiled by Dr. Gimmel, and, as of January 2017, is about 85% complete.



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Last updated 01/16/2009

 California Beetle Project > Species Pages > Rhantus gutticollis

Classification

Scientific name: Rhantus gutticollis (Say)
    Order Coleoptera
    Family Dytiscidae

Images (click to enlarge)

What it looks like: 9.8-12.7 mm in length. Its body is oval-shaped and light yellow-brown. The eyes are surrounded by black markings and on the pronotum behind the eyes are two distinct round black spots. The elytra, or wing coverings, are mottled with brown spots and the legs are reddish-brown. The underside of these beetles is dark brown.

Where you'll find it: This common water beetle has an expansive range that covers the western United States and Canada and extends down through Central America.

Natural History: These beetles like small clear streams. They can be found in vegetation or in small, coarse gravel.

This page was written by Maren Farnum, a 2005 California Beetle Project intern.



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