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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 » remigis group (Aquarius remigis group) » Aquarius remigis

Species Aquarius remigis

Classification · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Food · See Also · Works Cited

Aquarius remigis under riparian plywood - Aquarius remigis

Aquarius (a great name) remigis? - Aquarius remigis - female

5-Legged Water Strider - Aquarius remigis - 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 Gerridae (Water Striders)

Subfamily Gerrinae

Genus Aquarius

No Taxon (remigis group)

Species remigis (Aquarius remigis)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Gerris remigis Say, 1832

Gerris nyctalis Drake & Hottes, 1925

Explanation of Names

Aquarius remigis (Say 1832)

remigis 'rower'

Size

11.5-16 mm(1)

Identification

hind tibia at least 4 times length of first hind tarsal segment; connexival spines prominent; pronotum dull; first antennal segment subequal to combined length of antennal segments two and three; greatest width across mesoacetabula (middle leg "hip sockets") more than or equal to 0.25 times body length

adults almost always wingless(2)

Range

throughout NA; the most common and widespread water strider of our fauna (Drake & Harris 1928); uncommon in FL(1)

see remarks on species group

Habitat

on ponds and lakes in the west and on rivers and streams in the east(3)

Food

Mosquito larvae and other insects.

See Also

See remarks on A. remigis group

A. conformis: antennomere 1 distinctly longer than antennomeres 2 & 3 combined; greatest width across mesoacetabula (middle "hip sockets") <0.25 times body length

Gerris: body <10.7 mm, connexival spines not prominent, hind tibia less than 3.3 times length of metatarsomere 1

Limnoporus: antennomere 1 <0.8 combined length of antennomeres 2 & 3

Works Cited

1.	Identification manual for the aquatic and semi-aquatic Heteroptera of Florida Epler J.H. 2006. FL Dept. Env. Prot., Tallahassee, FL. 186 pp.

2.	Insects: Their Natural History And Diversity: With a Photographic Guide to Insects of Eastern North America Stephen A. Marshall. 2006. Firefly Books Ltd.

3.	How to Know the True Bugs Slater, James A., and Baranowski, Richard M. 1978. Wm. C. Brown Company.

Contributed by Robin McLeod on 2 June, 2007 - 4:23am
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, v belov, mpintar
Last updated 20 December, 2021 - 10:11am

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