Haliplidae

The Haliplidae are a family of water beetles that swim using an alternating motion of the legs. They are therefore clumsy in water (compared e.g. with the Dytiscidae or Hydrophilidae), and prefer to get around by crawling. The family consists of about 200 species in five genera, distributed wherever there is freshwater habitat; it is the only extant member of superfamily Haliploidea. They are also known as crawling water beetles or haliplids.

==Description== The adults of these beetles are generally oval in shape, with a very convex upperside, and are generally long. They are generally yellowish to light brown in color, frequently with light and dark patterns dotted with 10 or more rows of punctures on the elytra. The family's most distinctive characteristic is the large coxal plates of the hindlegs, which are immobile (though not fused in the centerline) and extend back along the underside to cover most of the abdomen base and the hindleg trochanters and femora. They are used as air storage supplementing the air carried under the elytra.