Description
Nominate subspecies has a typical length is about 28 mm. A carnivorous large beetle feeds on tadpoles, fish, and aquatic insects such as ''Culex'' spp., chironomids, and notonectid nymphs, damselfly larvae, ''Subspecies
Six subspecies identified. * ''Cybister tripunctatus africanus'' Laporte, 1835 * ''Cybister tripunctatus asiaticus'' Sharp, 1882 * ''Cybister tripunctatus lateralis'' (Fabricius, 1798) * ''Cybister tripunctatus orientalis'' Gschwendtner, 1931 * ''Cybister tripunctatus temnenkii'' Aubé, 1838 * ''Cybister tripunctatus tripunctatus'' (Olivier, 1795) The subspecies ''orientalis'' has a body length of about 24 to 29 mm. It is found in China, the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, and Japan. Subspecies ''lateralis'' characterized with typical length of 21 to 30 mm and not fringed with any ciliae of hind margins of the four basal metatarsal segments. pronotum and elytra with lateral reddish margins, elytral lateral margins extending to and including the epipleurae. Subspecies ''africanus'' known to live in retro-dune ponds, mouths and residual pools of small streams, preferably on muddy substrates. Subspecies ''asiaticus'' with following features: Head black, with greenish metallic iridescence. Pronotum black and shiny with greenish metallic iridescence. There is a yellowish lateral stripe on pronotum. Elytra blackish with greenish metallic iridescence with yellow lateral borders.Gallery
References
Dytiscidae Insects of Sri Lanka Insects described in 1795 {{Dytiscidae-stub