''Eretes'' is a genus of

beetle Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

s in the family

Dytiscidae The Dytiscidae, from the Ancient Greek word δυτικός (''dystikos''), meaning "able to dive", are the predaceous diving beetles, a family of water beetles. They occur in virtually any freshwater habitat around the world, but a few species l ...

. The genus is native to the Afro-tropical region, the

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...

(including

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

), the

Near East The Near East () is a transcontinental region around the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The term was invented in the 20th ...

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

and the

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

n region. A 2002 revision of the genus established four species. Species of this genus are variable in size and color, and individuals of a given species can be varied in appearance as well, so the morphology of the male genitalia is used to delimit species.Miller, K. B. (2002)
Revision of the genus ''Eretes'' Laporte, 1833 (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae).
''Aquatic Insects'', 24(4), 247-272. The beetles are yellowish in color with black markings. They have large heads with long antennae. Species: * '' Eretes australis'' (Erichson, 1842) * '' Eretes explicitus'' K.B.Miller, 2002 * '' Eretes griseus'' (Fabricius, 1781) * '' Eretes sticticus'' (Linnaeus, 1767)

References

External links

''Eretes'' on Fauna Europaea''Eretes'' on BugGuide.Net
Dytiscidae genera {{Dytiscidae-stub