![]() ![]() Mom spends the next week or two protecting the eggs, exposing them alternately to water and air, and stroking them with his hind legs. A female may lay 150 eggs in her lifetime, but predation and cannibalism will account for most of them.įor males of the two genera of “Smaller GWBs,” eggs come as “carry-out” – a female will glue as many as 100 of them to his back and then cruise off to find another partner with less “baggage.” Mr. “Giant GWBs” of the genus Lethocerus lay their eggs on vegetation just above the water line and then Dad sticks around to guard them (“ferociously,” says one source), climbing up the plant stem to shield them from predators and bringing water to keep them moist. tells of a GWB that was found struggling on the ground with a woodpecker (!!!), its legs wrapped around the bird’s bill and its beak sunk into the bird’s head (Voshell did not relate the final outcome).ĭucks and herons eat GWBs, and the BugLady saw a program on PBS which showed people in Asia dipping them in batter and deep frying them – a batter-fried bug with six batter-fried legs hanging down (the BugLady can provide a picture if needed). in A Guide to Common Freshwater Invertebrates of North America, J.another captive GWB ate a 3 inch trout, several young frogs, tadpoles, snails and various fish fry in an unspecified period.a captive GWB ate more than 2 dozen tadpoles. ![]() ![]() They have been known to bite larger prey and then “ride” them until the prey succumbed to the effects of the poison.Stories of their voraciousness are legend: The largest of the GWBs will go after an astonishing range of prey, including other aquatic insects, small frogs, tadpoles, fish, small snakes, and even little fuzzy ducklings. They may grab their prey as it swims past, or they may pursue it actively. Like most other aquatic true bugs, GWBs are classified, niche-wise, as “piercer-predators,” which means that they grab their prey, stab it with a short, sharp beak, inject poisonous enzymes (produced in salivary glands near the beak) to immobilize it and liquefy its innards, and then slurp the softened tissue out. They use their front pair of legs to capture their prey, and the second and third pairs are adapted for swimming – flattened and fringed with hairs that effectively increase their surface area. They use the tubes to pull atmospheric air into their tracheal system, but additional air, for use on longer dives, is stored in a space under their wings. They hang head down on aquatic plants, close enough to the surface to reach it with the short, retractable breathing tubes that protrude from the tip of their abdomen (it’s not a stinger). GWBs are “climber-swimmers” that live in shallow waters, both still and slowly moving, with plenty of vegetation. Another source said that they often smell fishy. Klots reports that a hand-held GWB (more about that “hand-held” idea later) may squeak a little and may smell like apples. In her venerable book The New Field Book of Freshwater Life, Elsie B. GWBs come in several size groups the BugLady originally learned them as the “Smaller GWBs” (genus Abedus), about 1 ½”, and the “Giant GWBs” (genus Lethocerus and Benecus) which, at 2 ½+”, dwarf their smaller cousins – and many other insects. They are large, brownish, flat, oval insects with impressive front legs (yes, there is a superficial resemblance to those other “water bugs” – the cockroaches, but they are not related). It’s not a huge family – about 160 species worldwide, 19 of them in North America. ![]() Giant Water Bugs are “true bugs” in the Order Hemiptera and the family Belostomatidae. Not long ago, an email correspondent reported seeing a giant water bug in a parking lot, so the BugLady decided to refresh a BOTW episode from 2009 with some new content and lots of cool links. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |