Lackawanna River Water Penny
Order Coleoptera
Key features
3 pairs of legs
very flat
oval or round in shape, like a penny only smaller
tan, brown, or black
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Lackawanna River Water Penny |
Water pennies are beetle larvae that look like fossils as they cling to the undersides of stones and feed on plant material, primarily
algae, attached to the stone. They are pollution sensitive organisms, common within upper reaches of the River, from the Mid Valley upstream. Mature water penny larvae leave the water in
early summer and as adults inhabit the moist undersurface of logs and rocks overhanging a stream.
 | Family: Psephenidae Genus: Psephenus (top view) |
 | Family: Psephenidae Genus: Psephenus (bottom view) |