A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Ranatra
as pictured, approx. 3 inches long, including unusual 'tails'
spotted on driveway and moved to garden
Chaenorrhium is correct. http://www.dallaszooed.com/animalfacts/a.....
So, in spite of its name this spotting doesn't fit your mission.
http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/148...
Water scorpions are insects, not arachnids. The 'stinger' is actually a breathing tube.
Please join Scorpions of Florida.
http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/2237...
Your waterscorpion also has the typical mite load on its legs (the red-colored bumps). See the link for close-up images of mites....
http://bugguide.net/node/view/502346
Because we have so many wading birds and ducks that travel between different bodies of water I was thinking this fellow may have been trapped in feathers and transported. And we have a serious deficit in rain this year.
thank you for the introduction to these interesting creatures.
They typically hang out in weedy, stagnant ponds here in Ohio. I don't think they'd attract a bird's attention. Since they breathe air (the 'tails' are held together as a breathing tube) and suck fluids from fish and other bugs, I think they could get away with somewhat salty water. Or maybe it got flushed downstream if you had a recent storm and crawled up out of the water because it *was* brackish.
I thought the same thing, Karen when I saw it crawling across the driveway. But I decided it was a peculiar mantis when I picked it up. Wrong!
Chaenorrhinum has it right--it is a water scorpion! Now the mystery: nearby water is a brackish river. Is it possible the poor thing was dropped by one of the birds that may have flown by from fresh water farther inland?