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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) » Belostomatinae » Belostoma

Genus Belostoma

Classification · Other Common Names · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Food · Life Cycle · Remarks · Works Cited

Fish Crew Bug - Belostoma lutarium - 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 Nepomorpha (Aquatic Bugs)

Superfamily Nepoidea

Family Belostomatidae (Giant Water Bugs)

Subfamily Belostomatinae

Genus Belostoma

Other Common Names

Giant Water Bug, Toe Biter, Electric Light Bug

Explanation of Names

Belostoma Latreille 1807

Numbers

10 spp. in US & Canada(1)(2), several dozen total

Size

15-41.5 mm

Identification

body football-shaped (oval with pointed ends); membrane of hemelytra large and well-developed; larger than Abedus immaculatus (Say) but most smaller than the other North American species of Abedus and Lethocerus (B. ellipticum and B. subspinosum larger)(3)(4)(5)(6) (7)

key to spp. in(1)

Range

widespread in NA(3), most diverse in the Neotropics

Habitat

slow-moving and standing water with submerged or emergent vegetation

Season

adults present all year

Food

nymphs and adults are predaceous on aquatic arthropods as well as snails, small fish, and the larvae and adults of frogs and toads

Life Cycle

one generation per year; overwinters as an adult; mating and egg laying occurs in late spring or early summer

Remarks

Females cement their eggs to the backs of males, who swim with the eggs attached, providing aeration and protection until the eggs hatch. (adult male B. flumineum carrying eggs)

Adults often hang head-downward from the water surface, breathing air through a short tube at the end of the abdomen.

Adults can inflict a painful bite if handled but usually play dead when captured.

Works Cited

1.	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.

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.	Aquatic Insects of North America R. W. Merritt, K. W. Cummins, M.B. Berg. 2008. Kendall/Hunt.

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

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

6.	Choate P.M. () Giant water bugs, electric light bugs, Lethocerus, Abedus, Belostoma (Insecta: Hemiptera: Belostomatidae)

7.	A taxonomic study of the genus Abedus Stål (Hemiptera, Belostomatidae) A.S. Menke. 1960. University of California Publications in Entomology 16: 393-439.

Contributed by Robin McLeod on 2 May, 2005 - 2:41am
Additional contributions by v belov, Brady Richards, mpintar
Last updated 7 June, 2022 - 4:34pm

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