Hungerford's crawling water beetle facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Brychius hungerfordi |
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Brychius
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hungerfordi
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The Hungerford's crawling water beetle (Brychius hungerfordi) is a very rare type of water beetle. It belongs to a group called the Haliplidae family. Experts think there are only about 1,000 of these beetles left in the wild. In 2010, a report from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service showed that the number of beetles hadn't really changed.
This special beetle was first found by Paul J. Spangler in 1954.
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Protecting the Hungerford's Crawling Water Beetle
The Hungerford's crawling water beetle was officially listed as an endangered species in the U.S. on March 7, 1994. This means it gets special protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. However, this beetle is not currently protected in Canada. When it was first listed as endangered, it was only found in three places, all in Michigan. It was the most endangered species in Michigan at that time, and the only one found only in Michigan.
Where Do These Beetles Live?
Hungerford's crawling water beetles are only found in cool-water streams in five known places. Four of these places are in Michigan, USA, and one is in Ontario, Canada.
Beetle Homes in Michigan
Most Hungerford's crawling water beetles live in one main spot. This is the East Branch of the Maple River in Emmet County, Michigan. This area is about two and a half miles long. It has the only stable group of these beetles. In 2002, about 1,052 beetles were counted there. Much of this area is near the University of Michigan Biological Station.
Another place in Emmet County is near the Oliver Road crossing of the Carp Lake River. In 1997, four adult beetles were found there. But the area might have been damaged, and no beetles were found in 2003.
In Montmorency County, Michigan, two more places have had official records of these beetles. Along the East Branch of the Black River, inside the Mackinaw State Forest, two adult beetles were found in 1989 and two more in 1996. We're not sure how many beetles are still there. In July 1999, six more adult beetles were found in Van Hetton Creek, also in the Mackinaw State Forest.
Finding beetles in the Carp Lake River and Van Hetton Creek was important. It showed that the beetle lives in more places than first thought in 1994. This means there might be other places where this rare beetle lives that we haven't found yet.
Beetle Homes in Ontario
The only known group of Hungerford's crawling water beetles outside the U.S. lives in the North Saugeen River near Scone in Bruce County, Ontario. In 1986, 42 beetles were found there. Some beetles were last seen in 2001. But in 2002, no beetles were found during surveys. So, we don't know if this group of beetles is still there.
What Kind of Home Do They Need?
The Hungerford's crawling water beetle needs cool, fast-moving streams with sandy or gravelly bottoms. These streams are also a bit alkaline, meaning they're not too acidic. The water temperature should be between 15 and 25 degrees Celsius (59-77 degrees Fahrenheit). When they are young (larvae), the beetles like to gather where there are lots of microalgae and in slower parts of the water. People think these beetles used to like living near beaver dams.
What Does the Beetle Look Like?
Like all Haliplidae beetles, the adult Hungerford's crawling water beetle is oval-shaped and has a rounded, bumpy top. They are yellowish-brown with dark, uneven spots. They are very small, only about 3.8 to 4.3 millimeters long. Their small size makes them hard to find. Their hard wing covers have tiny holes in lines. The sides of the part behind their head are almost straight before they get wider.
A special thing about all Haliplidae beetles is their back legs. They have very large plates on their hindlegs called coxal plates. These plates cover most of the beetle's belly and parts of its back legs. These plates don't move, but they are not stuck together in the middle. These special plates help the beetle store air, adding to the air it carries under its wing covers.
Most other Haliplidae beetles can fly. But no one has ever seen a Hungerford's crawling water beetle fly. Not being able to fly might be why they only live in a few small areas. If they could fly, they might have spread to more places.
