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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) » Notonectoidea » Backswimmers (Notonectidae)

Family Notonectidae - Backswimmers

Classification · Other Common Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Food · Life Cycle · Remarks · See Also · Internet References · Works Cited

Portrait of a Backswimmer - Notonecta lunata

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 Notonectoidea

Family Notonectidae (Backswimmers)

Other Common Names

Water Bees, Water Wasps

Numbers

2 subfamilies, with 32 spp. in 3 genera in NA(1)(2) and 400 spp. in 11 genera worldwide(3)

Size

5-15 mm(3)

Identification

Aquatic bugs that often swim upside-down. When resting at the surface, body is typically tilted with the head downward. Characteristics(4)(5):

hind legs modified for swimming, with long hairs

front legs not scoop-like (unlike in Corixidae)

dorsum convex, V-shaped when viewed from tip of abdomen

wings clear, tips without veins

eyes relatively close together--typically separated by less than the width of one eye

Accurate identification of species often requires examining stridulatory structures and male genitalia.

Keys to genera/species provided in(6)(1)(7)(8)(9)

Range

Throughout North America

Habitat

Ponds, freshwater pools, slow flowing streams

Food

Prey on other aquatic insects and sometimes on small vertebrates; nymphs often cannibalistic

Life Cycle

Elongated white eggs are cemented to underwater plant stems and hatch in a few weeks; first-generation adults appear in July; often 2 generations a year(10)

Remarks

May bite if handled carelessly

Dive by holding air trapped in abdominal pockets; can remain submerged for up to 6 hrs

Come to lights; may invade swimming pools and become a nuisance

Males have a stridulatory apparatus probably used to attract females and communicate during courtship

See Also

Water Boatmen (Corixidae) have rather flat body (often cross-streaked with dark lines) and scoop-shaped front tarsi(11), and swim dorsal side up

Internet References

Family profile(12)

Works Cited

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

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

3.	Biodiversity of the Heteroptera Henry T.J. 2009. In: Foottit R.G., Adler P.H., eds. Insect biodiversity: Science and society. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell: 223-263.

4.	Photographic Atlas of Entomology and Guide To Insect Identification James L. Castner. 2000. Feline Press.

5.	How to Know the Insects Roger G. Bland, H.E. Jaques. 1978. WCB/McGraw-Hill.

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

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

8.	Bright E. (2002-2011) Aquatic Insects of Michigan

9.	Clifford H.F. (1991) Aquatic invertebrates of Alberta

10.	National Audubon Society Field Guide to Insects and Spiders Lorus and Margery Milne. 1980. Knopf.

11.	A Field Guide to Insects Richard E. White, Donald J. Borror, Roger Tory Peterson. 1998. Houghton Mifflin Co.

12.	Australian Faunal Directory

Contributed by Tony DiTerlizzi on 18 July, 2004 - 4:44pm
Additional contributions by cotinis, Robin McLeod, v belov
Last updated 12 December, 2011 - 7:05pm

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