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For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
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Genus Rhagovelia

Water Insects 9278 - Rhagovelia obesa Spinning bugs - Rhagovelia Water strider nymph? - Rhagovelia obesa Gerridae - Rhagovelia - male - female Rhagovelia? - Rhagovelia distincta New species for the guide - Rhagovelia oriander - female Rhagovelia becki - male Rhagovelia ignota - male
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hemiptera (True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies)
Suborder Heteroptera (True Bugs)
Infraorder Gerromorpha (Semiaquatic Bugs)
Superfamily Gerroidea
Family Veliidae (Smaller Water Striders)
Genus Rhagovelia
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Trochopus Carpenter, 1898
Explanation of Names
Rhagovelia Mayr, 1865
Numbers
12 species in US, 1 in se. Canada; ~400 total(1)
Range
worldwide
Remarks
very swift gliders that might be mistaken for flies skimming just above the water. It is not unusual to find more than one species at a collecting site(2); they have the most sophisticated mesotarsal arolium of all the striders(3)
Works Cited
1.Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS)
2.Identification manual for the aquatic and semi-aquatic Heteroptera of Florida
Epler J.H. 2006. FL Dept. Env. Prot., Tallahassee, FL. 186 pp.
3.Evolution of the Insects
David Grimaldi and Michael S. Engel. 2005.