Swimming bugs
| Swimming bugs | ||||||||||||
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Ilyocoris cimicoides in a dry pond |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Naucoridae | ||||||||||||
| Leach , 1815 |
Swimming bugs (Naucoridae) are a family of bed bugs (Heteroptera) within the suborder of water bugs (Nepomorpha). They occur worldwide with over 300 species , their main distribution area is the tropics . The swimming bugs are very closely related to the ground bugs (Aphelocheiridae).
Features and way of life
The adult bedbugs look very similar to the species of yellow beetle when viewed superficially . Swimming bugs have very short, rounded and flattened bodies and very short antennae , which are not visible from above, and an equally very short, tripartite proboscis. They lack pinpoint eyes ( ocelli ) and their scutellum is also very small. They have webbed hair on their legs, but they grow a little less densely on the middle legs. With these swimming legs you can move quickly and skillfully in the water. The forelegs of the animals are converted into catch legs with thickened thighs ( femur ) and hook-shaped rails ( tibia ), with which they can catch and hold their prey. The feet ( tarsi ) are more or less reduced. Their half-covers ( hemielytres ) are fully developed. Unlike many other water bugs, swimming bugs do not have a breathing tube at the end of their abdomen. The air supply is carried under the wing covers and on the underside of the body.
The animals live in stagnant water and predatory feed on various small invertebrates . Adult swimming bugs also eat larger prey, such as B. Amphibian larvae and small fish . The sting with the trunk can also be quite painful for humans. During the mating season, the males produce stridulation sounds .
Species in Europe
Only two species are known in Europe : Ilyocoris cimicoides ( Linnaeus , 1758) and Naucoris maculatus Fabricius , 1798 , of which only the former occurs in Central Europe .
literature
- E. Wachmann , A. Melber & J. Deckert: Bugs. Volume 1: Dipsocoromorpha, Nepomorpha, Gerromorpha, Leptopodomorpha, Cimicomorpha (part 1), revision of the bedbugs in Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland, Goecke & Evers, Keltern, 2006, pp. 46-50. ISBN 3-931374-49-1
- E. Wagner: Heteroptera Hemiptera. - In: Brohmer, P., P. Ehrmann & G. Ulmer (eds.): Die Tierwelt Mitteleuropas. IV, 3 (Xa). - Leipzig 1959, 173 pp.
- E. Security guard: Bugs - get to know, watch. Neumann-Neudamm 1989, ISBN 3-7888-0554-4 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Naucoridae. Fauna Europaea, accessed November 29, 2006 .
