Family Gerridae - Water Striders

Classification · Other Common Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Food · Remarks · Works Cited

Water Strider for California in October - Gerris

Common Water Strider? Two of 'em - Trepobates subnitidus - male - female

Pond Skater - Limnoporus dissortis - male

water skimmer - Limnoporus canaliculatus

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Hemiptera (True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies)

Suborder Heteroptera (True Bugs)

Infraorder Gerromorpha (Semiaquatic Bugs)

Family Gerridae (Water Striders)

Other Common Names

Pond Skaters

Numbers

46 spp. in 8 genera in our area(1), ca. 750 spp. in ~70 genera worldwide(2)

Size

3-16 mm [worldwide, 1.6-36+ mm(2)]

Identification

hind femur longer than abdomen (not longer than abdomen in other gerromorphans)

Range

worldwide and throughout NA(1)(3)

Habitat

surface of temporary or permanent ponds, and slow-moving areas of streams and rivers

Season

year-round in the south; whenever water is not frozen in the north

Food

small living or dead insects on the water surface

Remarks

fine water-repellant hairs on the underside of the tarsi allow the bug to walk on water's surface(4)

only the mid- and the hind legs are used for locomotion; they are attached to large coxae connected to the sides of the thorax and are unfit for walking on land(5)

Works Cited

1.	American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico By Ross H. Arnett

2.	Biodiversity of the Heteroptera By T.J. Henry

3.	Australian Faunal Directory

4.	Insects: Their Natural History And Diversity: With a Photographic Guide to Insects of Eastern North America By Stephen A. Marshall

5.	Evolution of the Insects By David Grimaldi and Michael S. Engel

Contributed by Troy Bartlett on 16 February, 2004 - 12:32pm
Additional contributions by Robin McLeod, v belov
Last updated 11 December, 2011 - 6:44pm

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