What insect is this?

[Jacquesdw]

Hi caught this insect in one of my dams yesterday but I have no idea what it is. The insect was photographed in the bottom of a 500ml plastic water bottle- to give an idea of the size of it.

Please can someone ID it?

 

[Unlimited]

geen idee.. maar lyk soos iets wat in oorgaatjies kan in gan... of erger ander gaatjies...

 

[Unlimited]

stuur die foto aan n universiteit en vra hulle

 

[Andre Laas]

You do not maybe have a side and /or bottom-view picture of this creature? It will most likely be the larval stage of some sort of beetle. Will check my old biomonitoring stuff at home over the week-end and see If I can find an ID.

 

[Lunker]

It looks like a damselfly Nymph, possibly a dragonfly nymph. They grow quite big but then again that insect takes up the whole bottom of that 500ml bottle.

Post this on the fly fishing page, the guys will definitely know 

 

[mudcrab]

Looks like the lavae of the Predaceous water beetle-family Dytiscidae

 

[Andre Laas]

mudcrab wrote:

Looks like the lavae of the Predaceous water beetle-family Dytiscidae

Most probably. Difficult to ID without looking at the mouth parts. Definitely not a damselfly or dragonfly larvae.

 

[mudcrab]

@ Critter I agree,my second choice is the Water scavanger beetle ,genus Hydrophilus

 

[Jacquesdw]

Thanks for the replies! The mouth has no visible jaws but has 2 flaps lying horizontally? The way it moved in the water defintely suggests a predator. But it is not fast and had quite a cumbersome way of moving through the water- twisting and turning. It was found in the suction pit of the pump inlet (about 4m deep) but it stayed on the surface till about 15cm under the whole time I observed it.

I think you could tie a really good fly based on it and there are many soft p[lastics which have a similar shape.