How about this monster any help identifying?
I’ve been browsing through pictures and just haven’t found one like it yet. Any help would be appreciated! We found this guy out in the driveway last night…quite a surprise!
Mike
Hi Mike,
The Giant Water Bug is sometimes called an Electric Light Bug or a Toe-Biter. We feel compelled to include this recent letter in our response even though it concerns a different species. While this bug is known as a Toe-Biter, and while it can produce a painful bite, it is not an aggressive species.
Readers Comment: (05/12/2008) Giant water Beetle bites
Dear friends;
I’ve enjoyed your site immensely and have recently come across a specimen of Ranatra Fusca, the water scorpion. I was just thinking of how the public is terribly alarmed at insects that bite. I’ve never been bitten by an aquatic insect but I have cut my toe badly on a hidden piece of broken glass in the mud and have experienced nasty bites from a rabbit, cat, dog, a horse, and a ferret. A human, (Homo sapien or more commonly known as “ultimus stupidimus”) can deliver a very painful bite because the teeth are dull and have the same effect as clenching the flesh with a pair of pliers. The point here is that most of the smaller creatures are relatively defenseless and easily killed. This business of bites has to be seen in a larger, sensible context. As Mark Twain aptly stated, “Man can learn a lot from the higher animals.” All the best,
Paul Marshall
Barrie Ontario, Canada
Assassin Bug Species?
Found this little cutie in the North Georgia Mountains 5/4/08 at about 3000 feet. If I remember correctly the body was about 1-1.5 inches long, with the legs and oviposter maybe three inches. Looks similar to the Thread-legged Assassin Bug on your pages. Am I close? Any info on the natural history of it? Thx…
Greg in Dahlonega, Georgia
Hi Greg,
It is easy to confuse the Water Scorpion in your photo with a Thread Legged Bug. Your Water Scorpion is in the genus Ranatra, and BugGuide has many wonderful images, but none as nice as yours.
Water Scorpion
I had a chain of toad eggs in my "cement pond" and there were a family of these bugs congregated around them. (It seemed some had eggs in their pinchers!) I looked at your sight and found them to be water scorpions. One was about 4 inches long so I put it aside for a photo session. My question is, "Do these guys eat toad eggs?"
Katherine
Hi Katherine,
This is the second image of a Water Scorpion in the genus Ranatra we received today. The first was from Georgia and yours is from parts unknown. We believe that Water Scorpions might prefer moving prey, but your observation indicates that they may eat toad eggs.
Here are the picture of the toe-biter we found in our building one morning. I wrote you a week or so ago, but didn’t have the photos that we took. It looked like someone had stepped on him 
. He was very awkward and slow. But it sounds like that is typical for this little guy. I’m not sure what he was doing so far from a water source, there is a river around here, but maybe 5 miles away. Thanks for having such a great site, you see a lot of strange critters in Iraq, and your website is very helpful. We actually saw a camel spider today, he was probably 4 inches long, and very fast! I have sent the video along as well in a separate email, the guys at work were having some fun with him, but he escaped under the port a potty. Have a good day!
Patricia Winn
Hi Patricia,
Thanks for sending us your Toe-Biter image. We get numerous images of Toe-Biters, also called Giant Water Bugs or Electric Light Bugs, from around the world, including the U.S. Please return home safely and soon.
Toe Biter
I’m currently in Iraq on my 2nd tour and found this guy walking around our hanger. After snapping a few photos I went about the task of trying to identify it. Found out that its a toe biter. Good thing I didnt let my hands get to close. I set him free when I was done to prevent someone from killing him. Well the next night I came to work, I found him squished on the ground. I will keep looking for more now. We have Dung Beetles here too if you want a pic I will get one for your site.
Jerrad
Hi Jerrad,
Thanks for sending your photo of a Toe-Biter. We look forward to getting your Dung Beetle image. We also want to wish you a safe and speedy return home.
Request from a book publisher
photograph consent for ‘TOE BITER’
Location: Iraq
September 7, 2010 3:04 am
Hello,
We are the educational publisher in Korea and going to publish Science book for children. We were looking for the photograph for ’Toe Biter’ and found absolutely beautiful one from your site. Would you give us the generous consent to use this photo? Longing for the good answer from you.
Thank you and best wishes,
Judy JANG
Manager
Foreign Rights & Contracts Department
DCTY Co., Ltd.
943-1, DoGok-Dong, GangNam-Gu
Seoul, 135-270, KOREA
Phone: 82-2-529-7878 (Extension 215)
Fax: 82-2-572-0085
http://www.dctybooks.com
judybawdon@hotmail.com
judy@dcty.co.kr
Signature: DCTY
Spastic Attacker?
Hello Bugman,
i came into work this morning and this big bug was just waiting for me. He can fly, he is two and a half inches in length. He has claws that you can see in the picture what is he?????!!!! he ambushed me by flying but he was moving too fast and hit the garbage can. He then proceeded to walk around as in a daze. i ran to get the raid. so this is him dead,(sorry had too). We are located in South Florida, Sunrise to Be exact near the Everglades. we also use many chemicals in our facility…is this some weird mutation? whatever it is it scared the living crap out of me. Thank you,
Andy Kake
Hi Andy,
This impressive insect is a Giant Water Bug or Electric Light Bug, though our favorite name for it is a Toe-Biter. They will bite, and the bite is painful, but they are really harmless. In our mind, this is a case of Unnecessary Carnage. Toe-Biters are aquatic insects, and in the event you are interested, they are edible and considered delicacies in Thailand.
wrongfully accused cockroach
Earlier today at the ungodly hour of 7:30 am when all sane people are just going to bed, my younger sister saw fit to burst into my room claiming she had just found a ‘giant cockroach’ on the driveway and required my assistance in removing it. I knew it was not a house cockroach as soon as I saw it, but any identification more precise than that evades me. The days of my etymological expertise (ages 6 through 12) are long gone now, so I felt I my need some assistance in naming this particular bug. I apologise if the photos are not as clear as they could have been, he is feeling a little camera shy and scurries to the other side of the ice-cream box whenever the camera flashes, so they are a little blurred. Thanks for your help,
Franko,
Queensland, Australia
Hi Franko,
In America, the Giant Water Bug is known as the Toe-Biter, a well earned name, but we were curious if any colorful local names are used in Australia, so we researched. The Wildlife os Sydney site uses another name common in America, the Electric Light Bug, but also calls it the Giant Fish Killer. Lethocerus insulanus is found in nearly all parts of Australia..
Strange water bug near Tucson
Hello Bugman!
Thanks a lot for informing me on the Dolomedes spider! First described 1973 – really rare arachnid, as it seems! In a pool nearby some of these poor creatures were swimming – in a pond one inch deep! The sun was shining directly onto them; and they could only hide under some small rocks. I don’t know if they made it to the next monsoon season. I took this guy and threw him into a larger pool with lots of amphibia larvae. Hope he didn’t eat ‘em all up! Do you have any idea what kind of water bug that might me? About 3 cm long; and with a fang of at least 4 mm, as I observed on a dead speciman. Thanks a lot!
Greetings from Daniel Jestrzemski
Hi Daniel,
This is a Giant Water Bug in the family Belostomatidae. They are frequently called Toe-Biters. This is not one of the species in the genus Lethocerus, the most frequent submissions to our site. We believe this is Abedus indentatus, but sadly, there is only one image on BugGuide of a male encrusted with eggs and that image does not show the outline of the insect. Charles Hogue describes the species in Insects of the Los Angeles Basin, but once again, the image is of a male encrusted with eggs. If this is not Abedus indentatus, then it is in the genus Belostoma, also pictured on BugGuide. Our reasons for believing this to be Adedus as opposed to Belostoma are based on the shape of your specimen. The abdomen is rounded as opposed to pointed and the thorax of your specimen is shaped differently than Belostoma as well. Perhaps when Eric Eaton contacts us, the mystery will be solved.
Daniel:
I believe the toe-biter in question is in the genus Abedus. Not sure how many species there are in California.
Eric
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