Marine Water Strider - Rhagovelia plumbea

Moved

… Tim Loh, 18 February, 2009 - 2:35am

Moved

… Tim Loh, 18 February, 2009 - 2:25am

Veliidae for sure...

In this family, the hind femora do not or barely surpass the tip of the abdomen (unlike Gerrids, which have much longer hind femora that greatly surpass the abdomen). Given the apterous (wingless) appearance and 2-segmented hind tarsi (last segment is hidden, therefore appears 1-segmented), plus the marine habitat, this is most likely a Trochopus, T. plumbeus is the only species recorded for North America. Nice find.

… Tim Loh, 18 February, 2009 - 2:24am

an alternant identification

I was struck by the way the mesothoracic legs are held - much like the genus Rhagovelia (Veliidae). Perhaps they belong to the species Trochopus plumbeus (Uhler) (Veliidae)? This species occurs from Florida south into the West Indies, Mexcio and on into South America (Venezuela)

Excellent photo!

… Steve Taylor, 4 November, 2004 - 3:17pm

Metrobates, probably, or maybe Halobates (?)

Nice photo. Amazing how much smaller the male is. That is, thankfully, not a large family. Paging through Slater, How to Know the True Bugs, using the key, I get to page 213:
"3 First antennal segment very long, as long as or longer than the other three segments together--->Metrobates." (1)
He lists six species for North America, as does Nearctica.com
Insects of Cedar Creek has an image of M. hesperius, which is not found in Florida, acc. to Slater. (This checklist for Florida, of unknown reliability, lists anomalus and hesperius.
This is probably in one of my seashore field guides, which I don't have in front of me. Another possibility (?) is the genus Halobates, which is marine, even pelagic. Genus not illustrated by Slater. That same checklist above lists H. micans for Florida. Here is a neat article on Halobates. Images I can find of Halobates don't look much like your critters--more elongate. Also, I think the genus is strictly pelagic.

Article on Water Striders, I'll add to links, a nice summary.

Patrick Coin
Durham, North Carolina

… Cotinis, 29 June, 2004 - 11:36am

Thanks

As usual Patrick your research skills are amazing.

I tried to get a shot of these swarming on the surface (which they do, very similar to Whirlygig beetles) where there was a small jellyfish swimming by underneath...it was pretty surreal!

Because of the intense close-up, I couldn't get the male and female in focus in one shot, so I added the male from another shot via Photoshop:)

… Tony DiTerlizzi, 30 June, 2004 - 1:19pm