Whirligig Beetles

Related to Whirligig Beetles: water beetle

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Whirligig Beetles

(Gyrinidae), a family of insects of the order Coleóptera. The bodies are dark and lustrous. The midlegs and back legs are shaped like broad oars; the forelegs are used for grasping.

Whirligig beeties live in reservoirs and circle on the surface of the water (hence the name) and often dive. The eyes of the whirligig are divided into two halves; the lower half serves for underwater vision and the upper for vision in the air. There are about 500 species, some of which are found in the USSR. These beetles are predators, feeding on small aquatic worms, centipedes, and the larvae of malarial mosquitoes (for which reason they are beneficial). The larvae of whirligigs live in silt and pupate on the shore.

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However, thermoregulation by increased activity level, seems unlikely in whirligig beetles because they are in close contact with cool water and have little apparent insulation.

Temperature and hunger levels are both important to whirligig beetles in their decision of whether or not to join a group.

Social behavior of adult whirligig beetles Dineutes nigrior and D.

Aggregation and foraging behavior of whirligig beetles (Gyrinidae).

Aggregation and predator avoidance in whirligig beetles (Coleoptera: Gyrinidae).

Temperature, contact rates, and interindividual distance in whirligig beetles (Coleoptera: Gyrinidae).

Vulinec and Kolmes (1987) showed that the pond-dwelling whirligig beetle (D.

Contact behavior of the whirligig beetle Dineutes assimilis (Coleoptera: Gyrinidae).

Precopulatory behavior of the whirligig beetle Dineutes discolor (Coleoptera: Gyrinidae).