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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies (Hemiptera) » True Bugs (Heteroptera) » Aquatic Bugs (Nepomorpha) » Nepoidea » Giant Water Bugs (Belostomatidae) » Lethocerinae » Lethocerus » Lethocerus medius

Species Lethocerus medius

Classification · Other Common Names · Explanation of Names · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Works Cited
Who am I ? - Lethocerus medius Lethocerus medius Lethocerus medius Giant Water Bug? - Lethocerus medius Some Giant Water Bug - Lethocerus medius Lethocerus medius? - Lethocerus medius Lethocerus medius? - Lethocerus medius Lethocerus medius? - Lethocerus medius
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 Nepomorpha (Aquatic Bugs)
Superfamily Nepoidea
Family Belostomatidae (Giant Water Bugs)
Subfamily Lethocerinae
Genus Lethocerus
Species medius (Lethocerus medius)
Other Common Names
Banded-femora Water Bug
Explanation of Names
Lethocerus medius (Guérin-Méneville 1857)
Size
♂ 49-58 mm, ♀ 62-63 mm(1)
Identification
Legs banded. Eyes closer together than they are wide, and with rear margins roughly straight across as viewed from above (not distinctly slanted). Very similar to L. uhleri (ranges overlap in e. TX), differs in basal segment of hind tarsus wider, wider than interocular distance; metatibia more obviously curved on outer margin (nearly straight in L. uhleri)(2)
Range
AZ to c. TX to Panama; W. Indies - Map (1)(3)
Habitat
in the northernmost part of its range, desert environments (forests in the south)(1)
Works Cited
1.Taxonomic revision of the subfamily Lethocerinae Lauck & Menke (Heteroptera: Belostomatidae)
Perez-Goodwyn P.J. 2006. Stuttg. Beitr. Naturkd., A (Biologie) 695: 1–71.
2.The semiaquatic and aquatic Hemiptera of California
Menke, Arnold S. (editor). 1979. Bulletin of the California Insect Survey, University of California Press, xi + 166 pp.
3.Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
Contributed by margarethe brummermann on 11 September, 2009 - 6:10pm
Additional contributions by Mike Quinn, David Ferguson, v belov
Last updated 20 November, 2023 - 10:51am

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