|Introduction
|Identification Key
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Order Coleoptera
(Beetles)
The Coleoptera are without question the largest and most diverse of insect
orders. Over 1000 of an estimated 30,000 species in North America are
aquatic or semiaquatic (McCafferty 1981). All beetles undergo complete
metamorphosis; in some species both larvae and adults are aquatic while in
others only one or the other is aquatic. Following are examples of both larval and
adult aquatic beetles.