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Belostomatidae is a
family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
of freshwater hemipteran insects known as giant water bugs or colloquially as toe-biters, Indian toe-biters, electric-light bugs, alligator ticks, or alligator fleas (in Florida). They are the
largest insect Insects, which are a type of arthropod, are the most numerous group of multicellular organisms on the planet, with over a million species identified so far. The title of heaviest insect in the world has many contenders, the most frequently crow ...
s in the order Hemiptera. There are about 170 species found in freshwater habitats worldwide, with more than 110 in the
Neotropics The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...
, more than 20 in Africa, almost as many in the
Nearctic The Nearctic realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting the Earth's land surface. The Nearctic realm covers most of North America, including Greenland, Central Florida, and the highlands of Mexico. The parts of North America ...
, and far fewer elsewhere. These predators are typically encountered in freshwater ponds, marshes and slow-flowing streams. Most species are at least long, although smaller species, down to , also exist. The largest are members of the genus ''
Lethocerus ''Lethocerus'' is a genus of the hemipteran family Belostomatidae, known colloquially as giant water bugs, toe biters and electric light bugs, distributed in tropical, subtropical and temperate areas of the world. The greatest diversity of speci ...
'', which can exceed and nearly reach the length of some of the largest beetles in the world. Giant water bugs are a popular food in parts of Asia.


Morphology

Belostomatids have a flattened, obovoid to ovoid-elongate body, and usually the legs are flattened. The head features two large
compound eyes A compound eye is a visual organ found in arthropods such as insects and crustaceans. It may consist of thousands of ommatidia, which are tiny independent photoreception units that consist of a cornea, lens, and photoreceptor cells which distin ...
, but lacks
ocelli A simple eye (sometimes called a pigment pit) refers to a form of eye or an optical arrangement composed of a single lens and without an elaborate retina such as occurs in most vertebrates. In this sense "simple eye" is distinct from a multi-l ...
, contrasting with many hemipterans. Short antennae are tucked in grooves behind the eyes. A short breathing tube can be retracted into its abdomen. Adults cannot breathe under water, so must periodically place the breathing tube at the surface for air (similar to a snorkel). Their hind tarsi have two apical claws. The frontal legs are modified into raptorial appendages that they use to grab their prey, except in the African ''Limnogeton'', which has "normal" forelegs and is a specialized snail-eater. Once caught, the prey are stabbed with their
proboscis A proboscis () is an elongated appendage from the head of an animal, either a vertebrate or an invertebrate. In invertebrates, the term usually refers to tubular mouthparts used for feeding and sucking. In vertebrates, a proboscis is an elong ...
and a powerful saliva is injected, allowing the Belostomatid to suck out the liquefied remains. Wing pads can be seen from the dorsal view. While the members of the subfamily Lethocerinae can disperse by flying, other species, including ''Abedus herberti'', have a greatly reduced flight apparatus and are flightless.


Subfamilies and genera

''BioLib'' lists three extant subfamilies and a number of fossil taxa:


Belostomatinae

Auth. Leach, 1815 # ''
Abedus ''Abedus'' is a genus of giant water bugs (family Belostomatidae) found in freshwater habitats in southern United States, Mexico and Central America. Sometimes called ferocious water bugs, these brown insects typically are between long, although ...
'' Stål, 1862 # ''
Appasus ''Appasus'' is a genus of giant water bugs (family Belostomatidae) found in freshwater habitats in Asia and Africa. Giant water bugs exhibit male parental care. In ''Appasus'' and other species in the subfamily Belostomatinae (but not subfamil ...
'' Amyot & Serville, 1843 # ''
Belostoma ''Belostoma'' is a genus of insects in the hemipteran family Belostomatidae, known colloquially as giant water bugs. Members of this genus are native to freshwater habitats in the Americas, with the greatest species richness in tropical South A ...
'' Latreille, 1807 # '' Diplonychus'' Laporte de Castelnau, 1833 (synonym ''Sphaerodema'' Laporte, 1833) # '' Hydrocyrius'' Spinola, 1850 (synonym ''Poissonia'' Brown, 1948) # '' Limnogeton'' Mayr, 1853 # '' Weberiellia'' De Carlo, 1966 * Fossil genera


Horvathiniinae

Auth. Lauck & Menke, 1961; South America # ''
Horvathinia ''Horvathinia'' is a small genus in the family Belostomatidae, and the only genus in its subfamily. Though it was originally thought to contain eleven species, upon recent reexamination, the number of species was reduced to two. ''Horvathinia'' ...
'' Montandon, 1911


Lethocerinae

Auth. Lauck & Menke, 1961 # '' Benacus'' Stål, 1861 # ''
Kirkaldyia ''Lethocerus deyrollei'' is a species of giant water bug (family Belostomatidae) that traditionally is included in the genus ''Lethocerus'', although recent authorities place it in the ''Kirkaldyia''.P. J. Perez-Goodwyn (2006). ''Taxonomic revis ...
'' Montandon, 1909 # ''
Lethocerus ''Lethocerus'' is a genus of the hemipteran family Belostomatidae, known colloquially as giant water bugs, toe biters and electric light bugs, distributed in tropical, subtropical and temperate areas of the world. The greatest diversity of speci ...
'' Mayr, 1853


Fossil taxa

subfamily Stygeonepinae Popov, 1971 † # '' Aenictobelostoma'' Polhemus, 2000 † # '' Belostomates'' Schöberlin, 1888 † # '' Lethopterus'' Popov, 1989 † # '' Manocerus'' Zhang, 1989 † # '' Scarabaeides'' Germar, 1839 † # '' Triassonepa'' Criscione & Grimaldi, 2017 †


Habits


Feeding and defense

Belostomatids are aggressive
predator Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...
s that stalk, capture, and feed on
fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...
, amphibians, as well as aquatic
invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...
s such as
snail A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class G ...
s and
crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group can ...
s. The largest species have also been found to capture and feed on baby turtles and water snakes. They often lie motionless at the bottom of a body of water, attached to various objects, where they wait for prey to come near. They then strike, injecting a venomous digestive saliva with their
rostrum Rostrum may refer to: * Any kind of a platform for a speaker: **dais **pulpit * Rostrum (anatomy), a beak, or anatomical structure resembling a beak, as in the mouthparts of many sucking insects * Rostrum (ship), a form of bow on naval ships * Ros ...
. Although their bite is excruciatingly painful, it is of no medical significance. Occasionally, when encountered by a larger animal or a human, they have been known to "play dead" and most species can emit a fluid from their anus. Due to this, they are assumed dead by humans only to later "come alive" with painful results.


Breeding

Belostomatids show
paternal care In biology, paternal care is parental investment provided by a male to his own offspring. It is a complex social behaviour in vertebrates associated with animal mating systems, life history traits, and ecology. Paternal care may be provided in co ...
and these aspects have been studied extensively, among others involving the North American '' Belostoma flumineum'' and the East Asian '' Lethocerus (Kirkaldyia) deyrollei''. In species of the subfamily Belostomatinae, the eggs are typically laid on the male's wings and carried until they hatch. The male cannot mate during this period. The males invest considerable time and energy in reproduction and females take the role of actively finding males to mate. This role reversal matches the predictions of R. L. Trivers' parental investment theory. In the subfamily Lethocerinae, the eggs are laid on emergent vegetation and guarded by the male.


In Asian cuisine

In some areas, belostomatids are considered a
delicacy A delicacy is usually a rare and expensive food item that is considered highly desirable, sophisticated, or peculiarly distinctive within a given culture. Irrespective of local preferences, such a label is typically pervasive throughout a r ...
, and can be found for sale in markets. This is mainly in South and Southeast Asia involving the species ''
Lethocerus indicus ''Lethocerus indicus'' is a giant water bug in the family Belostomatidae, native to South and Southeast Asia, as well as southeast China, the Ryukyu Islands, and New Guinea.P. J. Perez-Goodwyn (2006). ''Taxonomic revision of the subfamily Lethoc ...
''. In South and Southeast Asia they are often collected for this purpose using large floating traps on ponds, set with black lights to attract the bugs. Adults fly at night, like many aquatic insects, and are attracted to lights during the breeding season.


References


Further reading

* * * * *


External links


Factsheet from zoo.org








on the
University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...
/ Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Featured Creatures Web site
Giant Water Bug Feeding on Frog
{{Taxonbar, from=Q8356884 Nepomorpha Heteroptera families Taxa named by William Elford Leach Edible insects