Gould had been crouching down next to a body of water, searching for tadpoles, when he noticed what initially appeared to be a bug swimming.
In a rare documentation of the behaviour, Gould said he then realised the beetle seemed to be walking on the underside of the water’s surface as if it were a pane of glass.
“I think I was just lucky,” Gould said. “The most interesting thing is that it’s able to rest on the underside of the water’s surface as well as walk.”
While the specific species of beetle hasn’t been identified, the researchers believe it belongs to the Hydrophilidae family of beetles, commonly known as water scavengers.