In Great Britain it lives in ditches with thick vegetation in marshy areas.

In the spring, the adult female spins a cocoon, fills it with eggs, and sets it afloat.

[2] This beetle is native to the western Palearctic realm, where it occurs throughout much of Eurasia, its distribution extending from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean, North Africa, and Russia, and as far east as India and China.

Its distribution is not continuous because it has been extirpated from some areas; it is considered to be extinct in Norway and Luxembourg, for example.

It is rare in some regions, being found only in specific and relictual habitat types.