Comments on: Mystery Bug

By: Kenton and Rebecca

Kenton and Rebecca — Sun, 24 May 2009 01:18:07 +0000

Hello Lori! What a fun site! And great shots of that spectacular water scorpion =)

By: Lori

Lori — Sat, 23 May 2009 15:16:55 +0000

coincidentally, i just read about water scorpions on dawn’s blog:

http://totheoutskirts.blogspot.com/2009/05/spring-at-lily-pad-pond.html

:^)

By: Kenton and Rebecca

Kenton and Rebecca — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 14:03:39 +0000

Ted — thanks so much for all your information. Armed with your ID, we found a fascinating article on the water scorpion — http://www.northern.edu/natsource/invert1/waters1.htm . We’re bummed we didn’t take a photo of the underside in order to see the pressure sensors down there.

They are pretty amazing creatures! Something to look for next time we’re exploring along a pond’s edge.

By: Beetles In The Bush

Beetles In The Bush — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 23:32:16 +0000

Honestly, I think this is the first post I’ve ever seen from anybody on water scorpions (not saying there aren’t any, just none that I’ve seen). They’re not commonly encountered, and few people recognize them for what they are when they do run into them. It’s an interesting group closely related to the much better known giant water bugs.
regards–ted

By: Kenton and Rebecca

Kenton and Rebecca — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 20:25:48 +0000

Thanks Ted — we were hoping you might know what this is! If you have a post about the water scorpion on your site, please feel free to write in and link to it from here.

By: Beetles In The Bush

Beetles In The Bush — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 18:20:14 +0000

Very nice find. It is a water scorpion (family Nepidae), a predaceous member of the true bugs (order Hemiptera). These aquatic bugs use their raptorial front legs to snatch their prey. Looking very much like praying mantis front legs, they are a marvelous example of convergent evolution. The ’scorpion’ part of their common name comes from the long ‘tail’, but they cannot sting.
regards–ted