Saturday, September 12, 2015

Coming Soon to Aquariumania - Episode 53: Diving into Aquatic Beetles with Dr. Jiri Hulcr

Aquariumania listeners-  Keep a look out, this episode is coming soon!

When you think of an aquarium, you don’t usually think of aquatic beetles. Dr. Jiri Hulcr, Assistant Professor of Forest Entomology at the University of Florida, and long time aquatic beetle hobbyist, however, thinks people have things all wrong.  He says that beetles are much more interesting than fish!   

So why is a forest insect expert such a big bug lover?  Dr. Hulcr explains where his love of "wet bugs" comes from, and will discuss some of the amazing biology and ecology of aquatic beetles that can be kept in aquaria, including the following species:

In the Family Dytiscidae

Cybister – common in the Southern US – easy to keep and impressive.

Dytiscus – common in more northern latitudes. Big, beautiful. The most beautiful larva.

Thermonectus – common in the south, but most species are note very interesting. 

Thermonectus marmoratus from Arizona is cool.


In the Family  Hydrophilidae

Water scavenger beetle:  

Hydrophilus – huge, pig.

Tropisternus – super common, kind of frantic.

After you download/stream and listen to the episode, and/or if you want any more information on aquatic beetles RIGHT NOW (!), feel free to contact Dr. Hulcr at:  hulcr@ufl.edu 

And check out some of Dr. Hulcr's cool aquatic beetle photographs:


Cybister lateralimarginalis  
 (photo credit: J. Hulcr)


Cybister lateralimarginalis  
(photo credit: J. Hulcr)


Dytiscus circumflexus  
(photo credit: J. Hulcr)


Dytiscus circumflexus  
(photo credit: J. Hulcr)


Dytiscus circumflexus 
(photo credit: J. Hulcr)


 Hypydrus  ovatus   
(photo credit: J. Hulcr)


 Sunburst diving beetle (Thermonectus marmoratus)
(photo credit: J. Hulcr)


Sunburst diving beetle larva 
(photo credit: J. Hulcr)


Thanks for stopping by!
-Dr. Roy (DrRoy@petliferadio.com)

No comments:

Post a Comment