It is a large dark red-brown or black beetle, that can fly and lives near water.

[7][1] The basic anatomy of the D. semisulcatus is broken up into three separate functional body regions: the head, the thorax, and the abdomen.

Their back and wing cases (or elytra) are red-brick to black, with a pale outer margin (or epipleuron).

[7][1] It is found in Europe (ranging from North Africa to Southern Scandinavia and east to Turkestan[7]) and in Northern Asia (excluding China).

[6] It can be found in stagnant ponds and slow-moving clear water with much vegetation on the sides.

[7] From recorded sightings, it has been found that the beetle hibernates through the winter period in pond edge soils, then in early spring they reappear.

[7] The beetle reproduces by laying eggs, under water in the mesophyll of an aquatic plant leaf (such as Juncus articulatus), the incubation period is between 17 and 19 days long.