Spotted Diving Beetle vs Tanzanian Heelwalker

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Spotted Diving Beetle Tanzanian Heelwalker
Scientific Name Graphoderus cinereus Tanzaniophasma subsolana
Order Coleoptera Mantophasmatodea
Family Dytiscidae Tanzaniophasmatidae
Size 13-16 mm 15-20 mm
Habitat Ponds & Lakes Mountains
Diet Omnivores Omnivores
Regions Europe East Africa, Tanzania
Conservation Near Threatened Data Deficient

Spotted Diving Beetle

A medium-sized diving beetle with distinctive mottled brown and cream patterning. It inhabits clean, well-vegetated ponds and lakes across Europe.

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Did You Know?

Its camouflage pattern makes it almost invisible against the mottled bottom of weedy ponds.

Tanzanian Heelwalker

Known only from a single museum specimen from Tanzania, this enigmatic heelwalker represents the only known East African member of its order. Its biology remains almost completely unknown.

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Did You Know?

This species was described from a specimen collected decades before Mantophasmatodea was recognized as a new order.