Giant Water Bug, Water Scorpions and other Water Bugs
rss Help…WHAT is this bug?
Location: Canton, Michigan
August 19, 2010 7:43 am
Found crawling in our parking lot, nearby woods – overall size was just over 2”.
Totally freaked out several of us.
’Ewwie
Toe-Biter
Dear Ewwie,
This Giant Water Bug is also called a Toe-Biter.
Water Scorpion
Location: Swimming pool in Tucson AZ
August 1, 2010 10:53 pm
Hello, I believe this is a water scorpion (actually 2) that were found in a public swimming pool today (early August) in Tucson AZ. It is about 2 inches long, abit longer if you measure the tail like appendage. Water bugs are not uncommon this time of year, but this variety was new to me. I identified it as a water scorpion from other posts on your site. How do water bugs survive in swimming pools when the chemicals that make the water safe for swimming are supposed to destroy organic matter?
Thanks! Teri
Water Scorpions
Hi Teri,
You are correct. These are Water Scorpions. Water Scorpions and most other adult aquatic insects breath air, in the case of the Water Scorpion, through the breathing tube at the end of the abdomen which functions like a snorkel. Since they do not take oxygen from the water, they are not adversely affected by the chlorine in the way that fish with gills may die in chlorinated water. If conditions become unbearable, the Water Scorpions just take flight and find a better habitat.
Water Strider
Location: North Middle Tennessee
July 27, 2010 4:33 pm
Hi Daniel,
Took a trek down to the creek today here are some water striders from the trip. They are very common around here but have always caught my interest. From my childhood memories they are very difficult to catch, from today they are difficult to photograph. Thank You for all that you do and have a wonderful day.
Richard
Water Strider
Hi Richard,
Thanks for sending us your images of Water Striders so we can provide them for our readership. They are fascinating to watch as they skate across the surface of ponds and streams while waiting for luckless insects to fall in, providing them with a meal.
Backswimmer abdominal hairs
Location: Santa Cruz Mountains
July 22, 2010 2:45 pm
Hello Bugpeople,
I saw a few letters concerning backswimmers and thought you might like to see this photo I took in my sister’s pool that inadvertantly captured extremely long hair-like structures on the abdomen of the backswimmer. I’d never seen them before until I enlarged the photo. I assumed they would be for breathing (extracting oxygen directly from the water?), but apparently they just help hold the abdomen at the surface of the water.
Incidently, I tried my hand at raising a few chickens a couple of years ago. I learned that everything loves the taste of chickens: raccoons, coopers hawks, coyotes, etc. I did manage to get a couple to egg-laying age, and had a nice run for a while (loved those fresh rich eggs), but eventually a wily coyote found his way into the enclosure and finished them off. While they were here, though, they were the happiest chickens on the planet – a full half-acre to run around on, and I fed them termites and other pests when I encountered them.
Fellow Bug Lover Dave
Backswimmer
Hi Dave,
Thanks for the great letter and wonderful images of a Backswimmer. We will need to do a bit of research on the hair subject, but we didn’t want to wait to post your letter.
Thanks also for the tips on chicken predators. We were very mindful of making the chicken coop very secure. The chicken run is only four foot high chicken wire, but we don’t plan on letting the chickens out of the coop without supervision, at least until they are much larger. We will lock our chickens, we just named the gold one Ginger, into the coop each night which should keep them safe from nocturnal raccoons and owls, and coyotes that pose a greater threat at night. Our biggest fear is the hawks, especially Cooper Hawks which feed on the doves that come to our bird feeder. There are also Red Shouldered Hawks and Red Tail Hawks in the neighborhood, but the smaller Cooper Hawks are the ones we are most nervous about.
Aquatic transformer bug…?
July 10, 2010
I found a bug very similar to Jason’s (of Folsom) bug. Only, mine was a bit fatter. It was the exact same circumstances too. I had just shocked my pool.
I found it coming out of one of the filters. I swam about with two long legs, almost like how a frog swims. I thought to myself, “how the heck is this thing living?” Like Jason said, it must have had a serious chlorine tolerance. I scooped it out of the pool promptly. It started to kinda writhe around and then began to try to walk with its two long legs. Then it stopped, like it gave up. I thought it had died, but to my amazement, it tucked its two long legs into itself, and its back sprouted wings, like how a lady bug does! It didn’t fly very fast. It actually looked drunk. I guess it sniffed out the pool, because I watched it fly right back into it. As soon as it was underwater again, it tucked its wings back in, and shot out its two long “frog” legs, and swam away.
I swear to you that this is completely true. At first I almost thought it was an alien. This was 3 days ago, and I’ve been searching the pool since to try to get a photo or video, but I can’t find it again. Please let me know if you have any idea. I want to know if I can let my kids swim in the pool again.
Baffled…
Santa Cruz, CA
Backswimmer
Dear Baffled,
The insect in your photo is a Backswimmer in the family Notonectidae. Backswimmers are aquatic insects that can fly from one body of water to another. Since there are probably not many other insects to prey upon in your pool, we suspect that the hungry Backswimmer has probably relocated to more fruitful hunting grounds. Backswimmers, because they are capable of delivering a painful bite, are sometimes called Water Bees or Water Wasps according to BugGuide.
Huge Roach-like bug; Large eyes
July 8, 2010
Hello. I found this very large bug slowly working it’s way down the hallway of our building, in Tampa FL.
It seems to be slowly dying, or maybe just really sleepy, as it is not moving very much, and only slowly when startled.
It looks like a roach in shape, but it has large eyes, and a pointed nose(?) that goes down it’s underside, and no antennea. Unless they broke off before I saw them. It also has very large front legs. The back legs are wide and flat. It is brown/green in color, with stripes on it’s underside. It’s so big I can actually see when it takes a breath. It measures 2.5″ in length.
Please let me know what you think this bug is.
Thank you for your time!
Steve
Tampa, FL
Toe-Biter
Just posted bug for ID, but found it in UC
July 8, 2010
Hello again,
I just sent you some pic’s of a large roach like bug with large eyes. In fact, I think the subject line was very close to that…
Anyway, after submitting my bug, I happened to look at your Unnecessary Carnage page, and happened upon the same bug I found. It turned out to be a Giant Water Bug (Belostomatidae).
The reason I am writing you back is to inform you that after I found out what he was, I proceded to take him outside to the run-off ditch, and put him in the water. He definitely perked up after that! I also noticed the over-abundance of tadpoles that were swimming around in the ditch, and have no doubt he’ll be feasting on some of them in due time.
No unnecessary carnage here today!
Keep up the great work!
Steve
Toe-Biter
Hi Steve,
Were it not for your wonderful followup report, we probably would have just provided you with an answer and not posted your letter. Thanks for taking the time to research your Giant Water Bug. They are quite clumsy on land, but in the air or in water they are quite streamlined.
This bug creeps me out man….
June 9, 2010
This bug runs around here in Shreveport/Bossier City area, It has massive claw like things and once it latches onto a stick or something it does not let go, they are probably 3-4 inches in length give or take.
Ben
Shreveport, La
Toe-Biter
Hi Ben,
This is a Giant Water Bug, commonly called a Toe-Biter or Electric Light Bug. They are aquatic predators that will bite a person if carelessly handled, and the bite is quite painful. Though they are aquatic, they fly quite well and they are attracted to lights. Because of their large size and unusual appearance, they are one of the most common identification requests sent to our website. Since we will be out of the office from June 15 through June 22, we are setting some letters to post in our absence, and your letter will be one of those.
Large egg cluster found on log floating in small pond, NW Ontario
June 2, 2010
Hi!. A friend and I were photographing orchids when we noticed this egg cluster sitting on a log. Actually it seems more like two clusters side by side. We assumed it was insect related and hoped you could give us some insight into what we were looking at?
Mike Lawrence
Sioux Lookout Ontario
Giant Water Bug Eggs
Hi Mike,
These really look like the eggs of a Giant Water Bug in the family Belostomatidae. The eggs of Giant Water Bugs in the genus Belostoma look like this, but the female cements them onto the back of the male and we have not heard of them being placed elsewhere. Here is a BugGuide image of a male carrying the eggs. We have not seen documentation of the eggs of a Lethocerus species so we did some research. According to the University of Florida Extension Entomology page: “Eggs of Lethocerus are deposited above water on vegetation and other objects“ and the accompanying photo matches your image.
Excelent, thank you.
We do have giant water bugs locally. As a matter of fact, a local public school struggles with the spring/summer appearance of these as the kids like to pick them up and wind up being bitten!
thanks again
Mike Lawrence
Feel Free To Visit My New Photography Site-
http://northwoods.zenfolio.com/
Followup
June 3, 2010
Hi Daniel, just a short follow up- I was at the same pond today and snapped this pic….same egg cluster…. don’t know what’s happening here- more egg laying, predation, or protection?
I went to grab a zoom lens but the water bug was gone when I got back.
Mike Lawrence
What's the Water Bug Doing with the Eggs?
Hi Mike,
This is a most curious image. Our best guess is protection, but we were unaware of that type of care. Alas, you picture lacks the quality necessary to determine the species of Giant Water Bug in the photo.
Daniel…wikipedia mentions the males of Lethocerus moistening it’s eggs by climbing over them when wet. Seems as good an explanation as any.
The link is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lethocerus
Mike
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