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Family Mesoveliidae - Water Treaders

Mesovilia sp? - Mesovelia mulsanti Mesovelia - Mesovelia mulsanti Plant insect  - Mesovelia Lilypad insect - Mesovelia Female, Mesovelia mulsanti? - Mesovelia mulsanti - female Female, Mesovelia mulsanti? - Mesovelia mulsanti - female Mesovelia polhemusi - male Bug - Mesovelia mulsanti
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)
Family Mesoveliidae (Water Treaders)
Other Common Names
Pond Threaders, Pondweed Bugs
Explanation of Names
Mesoveliidae Douglas & Scott 1867
Numbers
4 spp. in a single genus in our area, ~50 spp. in 12 genera worldwide(1)(2)
Size
1.2‒4.2 mm(1), our spp. 1.8‒4 mm(3)
Identification
winged forms with ocelli, wingless forms without ocelli(3)
Small, slender, usually greenish/yellowish. Only anterior basal part of forewing thickened, clavus membraneous, membrane veinless. Antennae slender, 4-segmented. Beak slender, 3-segmented, 3rd segment long. Tarsi 3-segmented, tarsomere 1 minute.(4)
Habitat
on aquatic vegetation or running on water surface; fairly common around ponds(4); almost always present on Lemna mats and on lily pads(3), also in forest leaf litter, damp moss, seeping rock faces(1); 1 sp. occurs in mangroves(2)
Food
small organisms found on water surface(4)
Remarks
fossils known from late Jurassic(5)
Works Cited
1.Biodiversity of the Heteroptera
Henry T.J. 2009. In: Foottit R.G., Adler P.H., eds. Insect biodiversity: Science and society. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell: 223−263.
2.Two new records of aquatic Hemiptera (Belostomatidae, Mesoveliidae) from southern Florida, with keys to the genera Belostoma Lat
Pintar, M.R. 2023. Aquatic Insects.
3.Identification manual for the aquatic and semi-aquatic Heteroptera of Florida
Epler J.H. 2006. FL Dept. Env. Prot., Tallahassee, FL. 186 pp.
4.A Field Guide to Insects
Richard E. White, Donald J. Borror, Roger Tory Peterson. 1998. Houghton Mifflin Co.
5.Evolution of the Insects
David Grimaldi and Michael S. Engel. 2005.