Water scavenger beetle

Sphaeridium scarabaeoides · Order: Coleoptera · Family: Hydrophilidae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Water scavenger beetle
Photo: Will Bennett, CC BY

Sphaeridium scarabaeoides is a water-scavenger beetle in the family Hydrophilidae. It occurs across Africa, Europe, northern Asia (but not China), North America, Oceania and southern Asia.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

Sphaeridium scarabaeoides belongs to the water scavenger beetles (Hydrophilidae).

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

Its native range includes Africa, Europe, northern Asia (except China), North America, Oceania and southern Asia.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 34 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Colorado, California, Illinois, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky.

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Status: introduced in North America; introduced in Canada; introduced in United States. Source: iNaturalist

Months it is reported in the US

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Source: GBIF

Same family (Hydrophilidae)

Lateral-lined Water BeetleLateral-lined Water BeetleTropisternus lateralisBerosus exiguusBerosus exiguusBerosus peregrinusBerosus peregrinusBerosus sayiBerosus sayi

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphaeridium_scarabaeoides

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-25 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-25.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.