Shore bugs

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Shore bugs
Common hippopotamus (Saldula saltatoria)

Common hippopotamus ( Saldula saltatoria )

Systematics
Subclass : Flying insects (Pterygota)
Order : Schnabelkerfe (Hemiptera)
Subordination : Bed bugs (heteroptera)
Partial order : Leptopodomorpha
Superfamily : Saldoidea
Family : Shore bugs
Scientific name
Saldidae
Amyot & Serville , 1843
Subfamilies

The bank or spring bugs (Saldidae) are a family of the bugs (Heteroptera). With 265 species they represent the most extensive family within the Leptopodomorpha . The German names indicate the preference of these insects from bank biotopes and other wet habitats as well as their escape behavior by jumping.

Distribution and habitats

The bank bugs or spring bugs are common worldwide. They colonize both freshwater bank biotopes and other wet habitats near water as well as sea coasts with the influence of salt.

features

The animals are small to medium in size. Your body outline is oval. Their very large, kidney-shaped compound eyes indicate a very good visual orientation ability when catching prey. The bugs are predominantly brownish-black and white in color, the intensity of the pattern being variable. The light-dark pattern results in a high degree of color adaptation to the environment and thus very good camouflage . In almost all species there are almost black forms as well as very light-colored individuals. In general, it appears that predominantly dark individuals develop in higher-lying and boggy, i.e. colder locations.

Jumping ability

Jumping species are the exception within the bugs, in contrast to the cicadas , and only known from two families. The Saldidae are also called "spring bugs" after this striking property. The jumping ability of the species Saldula saltatoria has been examined in detail. The jump is driven by powerful muscles located in the torso that attach to the thigh ring of the hind legs. Sudden extension of the joint between the thigh and the thigh ring causes the hind legs to be extended and the animal thereby catapulted into the air. Very often, by opening the wings, the pure jump turns into a jump flight before the jump. With a body length of around 3.5 millimeters, the animals reach jump lengths of 32 centimeters and jump heights of a good 10 centimeters.

Way of life

Bank bugs or spring bugs live exclusively predatory ( zoophag ) on insects and other arthropods . They are very agile on the ground and react with long leaps in the event of disruptions. The females are able to use their ovipositor to sink their eggs into the ground, dead plant material or other substrates. Some species lay the eggs openly. The overwintering takes place in the egg stage or as adults (adults). The adults are overwintered mainly in drier biotopes , often far away from bank habitats.

Species (Europe)

The following 47 species occur in Europe:

supporting documents

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Malcolm Burrows: Jumping strategies and performance in shore bugs (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Saldidae) . In: Journal of Experimental Biology . tape 212 , no. 1 , 2009, p. 106-115 , doi : 10.1242 / jeb.024448 , PMID 19088216 .
  2. ↑ Saldidae. Fauna Europaea, accessed March 6, 2014 .

literature

  • RT Schuh, JA Slater: True Bugs of the World (Hemiptera: Heteroptera). Classification and Natural History. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, 1995.
  • Ekkehard Wachmann , Albert Melber, Jürgen Deckert: Bugs. Volume 1: Cimicomorpha: Dipsocoromorpha, Nepomorpha, Gerromorpha, Leptopodomorpha, Cimicomorpha (part 1) (=  The animal world of Germany and the adjacent sea parts according to their characteristics and according to their way of life . 77th part). Goecke & Evers, Keltern 2006, ISBN 3-931374-49-1 .

Web links

Commons : River Bugs (Saldidae)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files