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Dispersal in Dytiscidae

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Ecology, Systematics, and the Natural History of Predaceous Diving Beetles (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae)

Abstract

Dytiscid beetles live in spatially discrete habitat patches of varying temporal duration and ecological stability. Many species are exemplary active dispersers, moving between suitable localities, sometimes on multiple occasions within an individual’s lifetime. Despite this, there is apparently much variation in the ability of individual species to disperse by flight, this having far-reaching consequences for their evolution and persistence. This chapter examines the mechanisms, causes and consequences of dispersal in diving beetles, reviewing work on flight and flightlessness, ultimate and proximate triggers of dispersal, and the biogeographical/macroecological consequences of movement, as well as suggesting areas where further research is required. Most diving beetle species fly, but some do so far more readily and over longer temporal windows than others. The degree to which individual species disperse may be shaped largely by habitat stability and persistence; something which has significant consequences for the composition of regional faunas.

I was reading in bed in Sussex in July, 1937, at 11.15 p.m. when a male Ilybius fuliginosus flew in at the window and settled on my pillow … F. Balfour-Browne (1953)

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Acknowledgements

Geoff Nobes is thanked for allowing me to use his excellent photo of Rhantus suturalis in flight in Fig. 11.6, Jonty Denton is acknowledged for use of his photos of R. suturalis and Agabus bipustulatus, and Franz Hebauer for Hydroporus rufifrons. I am grateful to Garth Foster for supplying the maps used in Fig. 11.6 (produced in David Morton’s DMAP programme), and Michael Balke for providing an earlier version of much of Fig. 11.5. The late Ignacio Ribera kindly commented on the section on lentic–lotic divides. Finally, thanks to Don Yee for the invitations and his continued patience!

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  1. Marine Biology and Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological and Marine Sciences, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth, UK

    David T. Bilton

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Correspondence to David T. Bilton .

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  1. School of Biological, Environmental, and Earth Sciences, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS, USA

    Donald A. Yee

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Bilton, D.T. (2023). Dispersal in Dytiscidae. In: Yee, D.A. (eds) Ecology, Systematics, and the Natural History of Predaceous Diving Beetles (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-01245-7_11

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