''Aquarius'' is a genus of

water strider The Gerridae are a family of insects in the order Hemiptera, commonly known as water striders, water skeeters, water scooters, water bugs, pond skaters, water skippers, or water skimmers. Consistent with the classification of the Gerridae as tr ...

s found predominantly in the northern hemisphere. Formerly a subgenus, ''Aquarius'' was elevated to generic rank in 1990 on the basis of

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

analysis. These are among the world's largest water striders, with females averaging long and males roughly 10–30% smaller, depending on the exact species. An outlier is ''A. elongatus'' where both sexes typically are about , roughly the same as certain '' Cylindrostethus'', and second only to ''

Gigantometra gigas ''Gigantometra'' is a monotypic genus of water-strider bugs, containing the species ''Gigantometra gigas'': its name indicating that it is the largest species in its family Gerridae. It has been found in pools of fast-flowing, subtropical and t ...

''.

Species

There are 17 species in the genus ''Aquarius'': *'' Aquarius adelaidis'' (Dohrn, 1860) *'' Aquarius amplus'' (Drake & Harris, 1938) *'' Aquarius antigone'' (Kirkaldy, 1899) *'' Aquarius chilensis'' (Berg, 1881) *'' Aquarius cinereus'' (Puton, 1869) *'' Aquarius conformis'' (Uhler, 1878) *'' Aquarius distanti'' (Horváth, 1899) *'' Aquarius elongatus'' (Uhler, 1896) *'' Aquarius fabricii'' Andersen, 1990 *'' Aquarius lili'' D.A. Polhemus & J.T. Polhemus, 1994 *''

Aquarius najas ''Aquarius najas'', also known as the river skater, is a European species of water strider. It was formerly known as ''Gerris najas'', but the subgenus ''Aquarius'' was elevated to generic rank in 1990 on the basis of phylogenetic analysis. Habi ...

'' (De Geer, 1773) *'' Aquarius nebularis'' (Drake & Hottes, 1925) *'' Aquarius paludum'' (Fabricius, 1794) *'' Aquarius philippinensis'' Zettel & Ruiz, 2003 *''

Aquarius remigis ''Aquarius remigis'', known as the common water strider, is a species of aquatic bug. It was formerly known as ''Gerris remigis'', but the subgenus ''Aquarius'' was elevated to generic rank in 1990 on the basis of phylogenetic analysis. ''Aqua ...

'' (Say, 1832) *'' Aquarius remigoides'' Gallant & Fairbairn, 1996 *'' Aquarius ventralis'' (Fieber, 1861)

References

Gerrini Gerromorpha genera {{gerromorpha-stub