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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies (Hemiptera) » True Bugs (Heteroptera) » Semiaquatic Bugs (Gerromorpha) » Gerroidea » Water Striders (Gerridae) » Gerrinae » Aquarius

Genus Aquarius

Classification · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Identification · Range · Habitat · Food · Remarks · Works Cited

wingless water strider - Aquarius remigis - male

Female, Aquarius remigis? - Aquarius remigis - female

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 Gerridae (Water Striders)

Subfamily Gerrinae

Genus Aquarius

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

formerly treated as a subgenus of Gerris; reviewed in (1)

Explanation of Names

Aquarius Schellenberg, 1800

Numbers

5 spp. in US, 2 in Canada(2), 18 spp. total

Identification

hind tibia at least 4 times as long as metatarsomere 1; connexival spines prominent; pronotum dull; antennomere 1 more than 0.9 as long as antennomeres 2+3; adults winged or wingless

Gerris: connexival spines not prominent, metatibia <3.3 as long as metatarsomere 1

Limnoporus: antennomere 1 <0.8 length of antennomeres 2+3

Range

worldwide, but mostly holarctic; throughout NA(1)

Habitat

surface of ponds, lakes, slow-moving streams, rivers

Food

aquatic arthropods

Remarks

Taxonomy of the Aquarius remigis group, q.v., needs further study; that group will be likely moved to a separate genus within or sister to the Gerris clade. The only 'true' Aquarius in our area are A. conformis and A. nebularis, both members of A. elongatus group.

Works Cited

1.	Phylogeny and taxonomy of water striders, genus Aquarius Schellenberg (...), with a new species from Australia Andersen N.M. 1990. Steenstrupia 16: 37-81.

2.	American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico Ross H. Arnett. 2000. CRC Press.

Contributed by Robin McLeod on 2 June, 2007 - 3:26am
Additional contributions by Hannah Nendick-Mason, v belov, Harsi S. Parker, mpintar
Last updated 25 November, 2023 - 4:56pm

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