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Water bug/ Pond skater

Gerridae sp.

Description:

Backswimmers are predators and attack prey as large as tadpoles and small fish, and can inflict a painful "bite" on a human being (actually, similar to a mosquito "bite", it is a stab with their tubular mouthpart).

Habitat:

They inhabit still freshwater, e.g. lakes, pools, marshes, and are sometimes found in garden ponds. Although primarily aquatic, they can fly well and so can disperse easily to new habitat.

Notes:

Photo 2 shows the disturbance to the waters surface when the water bug propels itself forwards.

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3 Comments

KarenL
KarenL 12 years ago

They are! I think they are fascinating!

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 12 years ago

These are so fun to watch!

ClairePelletier
ClairePelletier 12 years ago

Oups... interesting.

KarenL
Spotted by
KarenL

Oak Hill, Tennessee, USA

Spotted on Sep 14, 2011
Submitted on Sep 14, 2011

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