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Photo#1204849
Giant Water Bug - Lethocerus uhleri - female

Giant Water Bug - Lethocerus uhleri - Female
Mobile (Dog River), Mobile County, Alabama, USA
March 28, 2016
Size: 55mm
I'm guessing something in Lethocerus, but actually they all look alike to me. Whatever it turns out to be, it's my first Giant Water Bug

Moved to Lethocerus uhleri
Moved from Lethocerus.

Thanks, Brad. I wish we had such detailed descriptions and keys for everything. I still have this specimen, and was able to key out.
Bob

 
Agreed
And I also wish it was easier to insert keys into our guide pages. I've done several but I'm never quite satisfied with the formatting.

 
Keys
I screen capture a key, and run in OCR proggie, then add BBC markup and links, like so:

1   Fore femur without median grooves on anterior surface …................ L. griseus
1'  Fore femur with median grooves on anterior surface into which tibia fits ….... 2
2   Venter of abdomen with 2 longitudinal, reddish-brown stripes (rare) .. L. Annulipes
2'   Venter of abdomen without stripes: common ….... 3
3    Width of space between eyes about 3/4 of width of one eye .......... L. uhleri
3'   Width of space between eyes about equal to width of one eye ....... L. americanus

Moved
Moved from Giant Water Bugs.

my guess is L. uhleri
but B. griseus is also possible; Epler (1) has some great photos for telling the species apart

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