Projects, schemes, drawings
What is the name of the water scorpion. The water scorpion is a water bug

What is the name of the water scorpion. The water scorpion is a water bug

This rather awkward insect met me in the evening on the beach and immediately attracted my attention, because. in addition to the fact that any creatures in principle attract my attention, it looked somehow strange: it moved in a waddle on four legs, carrying two hypertrophied claws in front of it, in which the murder weapon was unmistakably guessed, immediately evoking associations with a praying mantis. In addition, his entire abdomen was plastered with large red capsules, obviously someone's eggs.

The monster moved equally well both on land and on the bottom, and, crawling through shallow water, it exposed its tail to the surface, in which it clearly had a breathing tube.

Being laid on its back, the insect easily turned over to its normal position, actively working with its muscular forelimbs. However, as soon as he was placed with his back on his finger, so that the claws had nothing to catch on, he became completely helpless, furiously pounding the air and being unable to somehow change the situation.

Water scorpion (Nepa cinerea) - absolutely helpless

In general, an interesting creature. Thanks to the knowledge of the uncle and the photographs taken, the insect was quickly identified.

It turned out water bug, also known by the more sonorous name:

Water scorpions are representatives of the family of water bugs, which has 14 genera, 2 subfamilies and about 230 species. Basically, they live in the tropics, in our latitudes there are genera Nepa and Ranatra.

Place in scientific classification (Wikipedia):

type: arthropods
Class: insects
squad: hemiptera(Hemiptera)
family: water scorpions(Nepidae)
subfamily: Nepinae
genus: Nepa

Appearance of a water scorpion

The body is flat, elongated, 1.5-4.5 cm long (our hero was about 3.5-4).

The head is small, clearly separated from the body, with compound eyes and a proboscis, which gives our hero some bird-like features.

The main distinguishing feature of the water scorpion is the front legs, transformed to capture the victim: the lower leg is opposed to the large flat thigh and is able to fold relative to it, like a false claw. The other two pairs of legs are used for locomotion.

The second interesting feature is the breathing tube, which consists of two parts. Some representatives (Ed. note, it is not clear from the context, species or genus) reaches the length of the body and even exceeds it.

The water scorpion has wings and is able to fly in anticipation of the drying up of the reservoir or in search of more convenient places for wintering. Some species are brightly colored under the wings, making them highly visible in the air. Under normal conditions, when the wings are folded, the water scorpion acquires a discreet patronizing color.

Friends! This is not just advertising, but mine, personal request. Please enter into ZooBot group in VK. This is pleasant for me and useful for you: there will be a lot that will not get on the site in the form of articles.

Lifestyle of a water scorpion

Water scorpions settle in calm ponds with stagnant water or in thickets along the banks of rivers. Most of the time they spend in ambush, waiting for the victim. To do this, the water scorpion is located on some plant at a shallow depth, exposes the breathing tube to the surface and freezes. Having caught the prey, it sucks it out with its proboscis. Eats almost everything, with which it can cope, including even small swimming beetles.

Water scorpion (Nepa cinerea) - you can see how the air duct sticks out of the water

Water scorpions mate in autumn or spring, and in early summer the female lays eggs in the pulp or on the surface of aquatic plants. (approx. in different sources in different ways). The egg is elongated and has a bundle of seven filiform spiracles in the upper part.

The eggs hatch into larvae(nymphs), for the most part, very similar to adults, only smaller. They do not have wings, and the air duct is a single tube.

larval stage lasts about three months.

adult water scorpions hatch by the end of autumn and hibernate as adults.

Larva (nymph) of a water scorpion: photo

I bring to your attention a photo of a water scorpion nymph. The size is small, about 1 cm, very frisky, and therefore a full-fledged photo session did not work: the larva crawled into the gap of the bridge.

Externally visible differences between a nymph and an adult:

size (it's not visible, you'll have to take my word for it)
color (noticeably lighter)
body shape
lack of wings
instead of a breathing tube of two halves - a solid thick tube
oral apparatus (see next photo)

Water scorpion nymph, mouthparts clearly visible

But the photo accidentally got an interesting event. Already when viewing the captured frames, I discovered that I accidentally captured the moment when the larva captured an insect with a claw.

And in the next frame, she is already sucking the victim "without the help of her hands", only with her elephantine proboscis.

Question

From the foregoing, an interesting question arises regarding the specific hero of our story: what were these red capsules that stuck around an adult water scorpion?

The most likely version is the larvae of some water mites of the family Hydrachnidae.


Photo 1. This is an adult water scorpion, unlike the larva, it has elytra and a long windpipe. The color and shape of the body allows it to remain invisible, hiding at the bottom and "pretending" to be a fallen, long-drowned leaf. Some kind of prey, sooner or later, will certainly be in the zone of action of his terrible grips, which his front legs have turned into.
Video is not visible, most likely your browser does not support HTML5 video		Video 1. Hunting a water scorpion - one of the water bugs that are dangerous for aquarium fish.

Photo 2. Larva water scorpion* sucks out the fly.*

This is how decisively this creepy creature, a bug called water scorpion (Nepa cinerea). The first pair of legs has turned into very tenacious graspers, almost the same as those of a praying mantis. With their help, this water bug catches everything indiscriminately, everything that turned out to be in the "capture zone", and only then it sorts out what is edible and what is not. This one, for example, grabbed both the fly and the branch of the tweezers with equal enthusiasm. He squeezed the tweezers for about a minute, then threw it away, immediately inserted his proboscis into the fly and sucked out all its contents in less than half an hour.
The other two pairs of legs of the water scorpion are simply walking, so the water scorpion swims very poorly. He walks along the bottom and, clinging to aquatic vegetation, climbs on it.
This bug breathes, as, indeed, all other water bugs, with atmospheric air. It takes in air with the help of a long respiratory tube located at the posterior end of the abdomen and stores it under the elytra. This is described in the literature and applies only to adults, which have both a long windpipe and elytra (see photo 1).
But in the larva, the tube is short, and the elytra exist only in the form of small rudiments (photo 2). She puts the air duct out of the water regularly (about once every 5 minutes), which means she also breathes atmospheric air. To understand how this happens, photography helped me. The photo was taken at the moment when the larva stuck out the air duct from the water.

For an aquarium with fish, a water scorpion is not a suitable tenant. He will eat the little ones, and the big fish will eat him. This bug should be kept separately, even in a half-liter jar, it is very unpretentious and does not seek to escape at all with tolerable feeding.

Photo 4 .

Another water bug smoothness (Notonecta glauca) unlike the scorpion swims perfectly. At the same time, he is located with his back down. On this basis, it is easy to recognize and distinguish, for example, from rower. This is a very mobile and tireless hunter, it catches fish just fine, therefore it is categorically not suitable for keeping in a common aquarium.
Smoothness runs away from cans with ease if too much water is poured and you can reach the edge. Once I caught a bug doing this and even managed to photograph the moment of rolling over the edge of the can.
And having got out of the water, the smoothie will most likely try to fly away (the smoothie flies perfectly). So if you have already kept a smoothie, and one day you did not find him in the apartment allotted to him - do not be surprised.
The smooth proboscis is very strong and can pierce a finger. After such an injection, the finger will hurt for a long time and severely, since the smooth saliva has a corrosive effect. In general, it is not worth catching and dragging home this creature.

Plautus (Naucoris cimicoides) is a water bug wagon. He swims and crawls and climbs. Its front legs are turned into a very effective grasping apparatus, so it will offend small fish.

Ranatra (Ranatra linearis) is a close relative of the water scorpion. In terms of lifestyle and tactical and technical data, they are also very similar. Only if the scorpion pretends to be a silty leaf, then the ranatra is a dirty knot.

From all of the above, it follows that water bugs (with the exception of only a rower) should not be started in a home aquarium with fish. But they can get there by accident: along with food and plants, or even just fly in, because these bugs fly well. If this happens, try to remove them as soon as possible. Be careful - bedbug proboscis injections are painful!

In the article we will get acquainted with an insect called the water scorpion. Has the desert dweller changed his habitat? You will find the answer to this and many questions in our article.

Characteristic features of insects

Let's start with the classification of this animal. The water scorpion is a typical representative of the type of arthropods, a detachment of insects. It belongs to the family of water bugs. Systematics number more than 200 species of these animals.

Like all insects, the body of a water scorpion consists of a head, chest and abdomen. The first department carries the organs of touch, vision and oral apparatus. Each of the three thoracic segments bears a pair of limbs. This department also has a pair of wings, but they are poorly developed in water scorpions. The abdomen is also segmented and devoid of limbs.

Name etymology

This insect really looks like a scorpion - a representative of the arachnid class. This is especially evident in the structure of the limbs. The two front legs of the insect are bent like claws. The water scorpion (the photo shows its external structure) has an unusually shaped head. It is as if chopped off and bears a proboscis-shaped outgrowth. These features of visual similarity determined the name of the water scorpion.

living conditions

These types of bugs prefer puddles and shallow ponds with stagnant or slowly flowing water. An important condition for water scorpions is the presence of plants in the coastal zone, on which they are held with tenacious legs. At the bottom of puddles, they hide in fallen tree leaves.

Most of the time is spent in ambush. They are located on plants or near the surface of the water, exposing the breathing tube to the outside.

External structure

What does an ordinary water scorpion look like? The size of its body can vary from 1.5 to 4.5 cm. Its color and shape are masking. Visually, a water scorpion resembles a leaf that has fallen into the water. Most of them have a dirty sandy color. The shape of the body, depending on the species, is flattened - oval or cylindrical. The insect also helps to disguise its sedentary lifestyle. All these features make him an excellent hunter. To get prey, the insect does not need to swim, although they are capable of this.

The sense organs are located on the head. These include faceted eyes, proboscis, and antennae. The structure of the limbs is associated with a predatory lifestyle. The front legs of the water scorpion point forward. The lower leg is opposed to the flat-shaped thigh. It can fold like the claw of a real scorpion. The middle and hind pairs of legs are poorly developed. With their help, the insect walks and swims.

Features of the internal structure

The water scorpion has ten pairs of spiracles. Of these, the first and eighth are on the dorsal side. This allows the insect to breathe underwater. How does this happen? Air enters the body of the insect through a breathing tube. It is one of the abdominal segments. In some, the size of this structure reaches the length of the body.

The breathing tube consists of two appendages, each of which is equipped with a groove and cilia. With the help of these structures, at the right time, they can connect with each other, forming a tube. By exposing this structure to the outside, the insect itself can be under water and breathe atmospheric oxygen.

Water scorpions are characterized by extraintestinal digestion. The insect attacks the victim from an ambush, grabs it with its front legs. Further, the water scorpion pierces the prey with its proboscis and sucks out its liquid contents.

These types of bedbugs are dioecious species. They mate in spring, laying fertilized eggs on coastal plants. They are equipped with special spines that serve for breathing. An interesting feature is that the eggs are completely immersed in the plants. From the outside, only the thorns are visible.

Depending on the species, the larvae hatch between April and July. They emerge from the egg, as if from a box, opening its lid with the help of their heads. To get to the water, the larvae have to crawl over the plant.

By autumn, they already become sexually mature individuals, or adults. For the first wintering of insects, the muddy bottom of the reservoir is quite suitable. These bugs live for several years.

Lifestyle

Being an aquatic inhabitant, this bug swims only in case of emergency. Basically, he crawls along the muddy bottom, sits on algae, fallen leaves or plants of the coastal zone.

What does a water scorpion eat? The basis of its diet is cladocerans, fish fry, larvae of amphibians and other insects. The forelimbs of this bug are more like jaws. They are organs of capture and retention of the victim. The proboscis also has additional functions. It is with them that the insect bites its prey, or rather, pierces it. A person can also become a victim of a water scorpion. But for him, the bite of this insect is not at all dangerous.

So, the water scorpion is characterized by the following features:

It is a representative of the type of arthropods, the class of insects, the family of water bugs.
Leads a sedentary lifestyle.
It lives in ponds with stagnant water and dense vegetation.
The first pair of limbs is modified and serves to capture and fix the victim.
Has extraintestinal digestion.
It is a predator, attacks smaller animals and their larvae from an ambush.
Capable of breathing atmospheric oxygen underwater. This happens with the help of a special structure consisting of two processes, which, if necessary, fold into a breathing tube.

The water scorpion (Nepa cinerea) is not a true scorpion but is a large aquatic insect belonging to the bug family of the infraorder Hemiptera. Its flattened, leaf-like body is greyish-brown above, which allows the insect to remain inconspicuous among the vegetation during a long ambush; but the wings and the inside of the back are pink, and during the flight the scorpion is clearly visible. An adult individual does not exceed 4.5 cm in length, however, this is a real predator. The water scorpion is a poor swimmer and tends to move around mainly by clinging and crawling over plants or along the bottom. The scorpion hunts for, mosquito and mosquito larvae, fish fry, tadpoles and a number of other inhabitants of the reservoir, which it captures with strong, like tweezers, front legs.

It is very interesting to watch how the water scorpion hunts. Having waited in ambush for its prey, the scorpion with a lightning movement throws out the front pair of legs and grabs it. The first pair of legs of the water scorpion is very mobile, and is used to capture prey, because the forelimbs have a peculiar shape, outwardly resembling a pair of jaws. Saber-shaped curved legs are pressed against strong, widened thighs, and the lower leg enters the longitudinal groove of the thigh, just as the blade of a penknife is inserted into the slot of the handle. At the base of the thigh there is a hook that the foot clings to when the lower leg is folded.

In the caught prey, the scorpion finds a place unprotected by a chitinous layer or scales and sticks a short, rather sharp, jointed proboscis into it, through which it injects poison containing digestive enzymes and only then sucks out the insides of the victim. As with this process takes quite a long time. Equally noteworthy is the wonderful "tail" of the water scorpion - a thin process on the back of the insect, which is used as a siphon to supply air to its owner. Water scorpions tend to stay underwater, with their tails sticking out of the water, and wait for suitable prey to swim by.

Very young larvae are tailless, since the tail appears over time during the molting process. In immature forms, the siphon is undeveloped and respiration occurs through six pairs of abdominal spiracles. Since air enters the surface of the insect through the respiratory "tail", the water scorpion is able to remain under water for a maximum of 30 minutes.

Throughout the year, the water scorpion is active; adults are also found in winter, they move freely under ice or under stones. Most adults are unable to fly because their muscles are poorly developed, but occasionally they take to the air to try to colonize new water bodies.

Mating occurs from April to the end of May, and females lay their eggs below the surface of the water, among the algae. One adult can lay 32 eggs per night. Eggs have 7 long hair processes that touch the surface of the water and serve as respiratory organs, supplying oxygen to the developing organism. After 3-4 weeks, larvae emerge from the eggs; they spend most of their time in shallow water near the edge of water bodies. As a result of incomplete metamorphosis, the larvae progress through a series of molts. The stages between molts are known as "instars". This species of water scorpion has 5 instars and takes about 6-8 weeks to develop into adults. These water bugs are widespread throughout Europe, with the exception of Northern Scotland where they have become rare. In Russia, the water scorpion can be found near small rivers, ponds and swamps.

Latin name: Nepidae

BASIC DATA

Body length: male - 15-18 mm; in the female - 20-23 mm

Siphon length: 9-12 mm

Food: small fish, tadpoles, insects and their larvae

Lifestyle: egg laying from April to May; adults emerge in August and overwinter

Hunting method: capture prey with front legs; then, like spiders, they inject enzymes into the body of the victim to liquefy the internal tissues

Water scorpions are found almost everywhere, but representatives of the Nepidae family are most numerous in tropical areas and are very rare in Australia and Asia, as well as in cold areas. The European species of water scorpions Nepa cineria is found throughout Europe, far to the east - to the Urals, and also live in North Africa.

The dark brown-shelled water scorpion lives in ponds and ditches. Only at the moment of attack is the power of its exciting claws manifested, striking prey in a matter of seconds. The attack of the water scorpion is so swift that it is able to catch even a fast fish. Thanks to its dark camouflage coloration and very long windpipe (trachea), it can hide in ambush for a long time and is always ready to attack prey with deadly speed.

Hanging upside down on pond water plants, the water scorpion stretches its long windpipe up towards the surface. A rigid tube easily penetrates the surface water film, and air enters the cavity under the shell of the water scorpion. Then the scorpion crawls over pond plants to a secluded place and waits in ambush for prey to appear.

As soon as a small fish swims close enough, the water scorpion makes an attack with lightning speed. He tightly clamps the fish with his front legs, resembling a scythe in shape, and pulls him closer to the jaws.

The water scorpion torments the powerless prey, tearing off pieces of meat with the sharp tip of its hard beak. Then he injects a lethal dose of poisonous saliva into the victim, turning the insides of the fish into a liquid mass. The water scorpion uses its beak to suck the juices out of fish.

Did you know?

The water scorpion can, with the help of its siphon, hang on the surface film of water.

If disturbed, this inconspicuous bug can pretend to be dead until the danger has passed.

Although it is considered non-swimmer, the water scorpion can quickly glide through the water by moving its front legs up and down and pushing off with its middle and hind legs.

The female water scorpion uses her breathing tube to lay eggs. The eggs are more like tiny jellyfish. Each has seven long, dangling processes, with which it attaches to aquatic plants.