Notonecta maculata
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
Notonecta maculata is a backswimmer of the family Notonectidae, found in Europe, including the United Kingdom. Notonecta maculata are small, light brown insects of the order Hemiptera. These animals have a number of dark markings on their wings and body, and have large reddish eyes. Their hind legs are modified to be oar-shaped, to allow them to swim in water.
These animals can grow up to 2 centimeters in length in their adult stage. This individual species can be distinguished from other Notonecta species by their mottled brick-coloured forewings. Notonecta maculata are voracious predators, eating many invertebrate species found in their habitats. In their juvenile stages, they primarily eat Daphnia magna and zooplankton, and in adult stages they will also include mosquito eggs to their diet, although they will also eat most things that they can find.
In their juvenile stages, they select prey based on size - when presented with multiple sizes of Daphnia, Notonecta maculata will go after larger Daphnia. The adult stages will also select for larger Daphnia and zooplankton.
The amount of light present affects the predation rate of juvenile Notonecta maculata... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France |
More parks will be added in future updates.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Peppered Backswimmer sighting in Cévennes National Park on a given day, based on 9 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 666th most-seen of the 996 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February–April, August and October
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Peppered Backswimmer in Cévennes National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May–July, September and November–January, the lowest months.
Between 1 and 4 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Peppered Backswimmer sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Cévennes National Park, in our data
Cévennes National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Peppered Backswimmer sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same order: Hemiptera
The closest relatives of the Peppered Backswimmer that you can see in Cévennes National Park (order Hemiptera, True Bugs, Hoppers, Aphids, and allies) are European Firebug (about 30%), European Striped Shield Bug (about 30%) and Black-Shouldered Shieldbug (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Peppered Backswimmer is recorded against all the insects logged in Cévennes National Park (9 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
