Scorpion bugs
| Scorpion bugs | ||||||||||||
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Water scorpion ( Nepa cinerea ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Nepidae | ||||||||||||
| Latreille , 1802 |
Scorpion bugs (Nepidae) are a family of bugs (Heteroptera) within the suborder of water bugs (Nepomorpha). It comprises 14 genera and 268 species. In Europe, five species are represented, two of which occur in Central Europe.
features
The medium to large bugs become 15 to 45 millimeters long. Their bodies vary from flattened and ovoid to cylindrical with parallel side edges. As a rule, the animals are dull brown in color.
Their small head is usually set in the pronotum . The compound eyes are compared to the other representatives of the water bugs small and protruding over the front edge of the pronotum. Point eyes ( Ocelli ) are not trained. The short, three-part antennae are positioned ventrally below the compound eyes and are not visible from above. The second and sometimes the third antennae can have finger-shaped appendages. The equally tripartite and short labium is often arched. The pronotum is almost square and the rear and front edges are often indented. The triangular scutellum is large. The forewings have a large clavus and a membrane with weak wing veins , but many cells. The legs are long and slender and poorly adapted for swimming. The forelegs are modified into tentacles, their thighs ( femora ) are strongly thickened and ventrally have a furrow into which the splints ( tibia ) are received. All tarsi are one-part. In the adults , no scent glands are formed on the metathorax , the nymphs lack them on the abdomen. In the adults, the sternites of the abdomen are divided lengthways. The subgenital plate is wide. The bugs have a long, slender breathing tube at the tip of their abdomen, which can be as long or even longer than the rest of the animal's body. The genitals of males are characterized by a short conjuctiva and a stiff endosoma.
The eggs have, unique in the bugs, two to 26 breathing tubes at the front pole.
distribution and habitat
The family is distributed worldwide and has its main distribution area in the tropics. Most scorpion bugs inhabit stagnant water. Those of the genus Ranatra are usually found between parts of plants or underwater plants. The species of the genera Nepa and Curicta can be found in shallow, muddy lakes or slowly flowing rivers with little vegetation. Species of the genus Goodnomdanepa have so far been found under stones of shallow rivers.
Way of life
Scorpion bugs predatory feed as stalkers. Their prey includes tadpoles, juvenile fish, river fleas, water lice, water fleas, insect larvae and various other invertebrates. Unlike the other representatives of the water bugs, the scorpion bugs breathe with the help of their breathing tube so that they stretch out into the air above the water surface. The bugs usually move slowly at the bottom of the water or climb on aquatic plants.
Taxonomy and systematics
In 1802, Pierre André Latreille raised the genus Nepa, first described by Carl von Linné, to the family rank as Nepariae. Menke & Strange carried out a revision of the family above the genus level in 1964 and divided the family into the two subfamilies Ranatrinae and Nepinae, as is also considered valid from today's perspective. The elevation of these two subfamilies to independent families by De Carlo in 1967 was rejected by Menke in 1979. According to Štys & Jansson (1988), whose classification is still followed today, the subtaxa of the family are as follows:
- Subfamily Nepinae
- Subfamily Ranatrinae
- Austronepini tribe
- Genus Austronepa (Australia)
- Tribus Goodnomdanepini
- Genus Goodnomdanepa (Australia)
- Tribe Ranatrini
- Genus Cercotmetus (Orientalis, Australasia)
- Genus Ranatra (worldwide)
- Austronepini tribe
The following species are common in Europe:
- Nepa anophthalma Decu, Gruia, Keffer & Sarbu, 1994
- Water scorpion ( Nepa cinerea ) Linnaeus, 1758
- Nepa sardiniensis Hungerford, 1928
- Stick bug ( Ranatra linearis ) (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Ranatra unicolor Scott, 1874
supporting documents
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h R. T. Schuh, JA Slater: True Bugs of the World (Hemiptera: Heteroptera). Classification and Natural History. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, 1995, pp. 114ff.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Family Nepidae. (No longer available online.) Australian Biological Resources Study. Australian Faunal Directory, archived from the original on March 25, 2014 ; Retrieved March 25, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Nepidae. Fauna Europaea, accessed March 24, 2014 .
- ^ A b c Ekkehard Wachmann , Albert Melber, Jürgen Deckert: Bugs. Volume 3: Pentatomomorpha I: Aradoidea (bark bugs), Lygaeoidea (ground bugs, etc.), Pyrrhocoroidea (fire bugs) and Coreoidea (edge bugs, etc.). (= The animal world of Germany and the adjacent parts of the sea according to their characteristics and their way of life . 78th part). Goecke & Evers, Keltern 2007, ISBN 978-3-937783-29-1 , p. 17 .
literature
- RT Schuh, JA Slater: True Bugs of the World (Hemiptera: Heteroptera). Classification and Natural History. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, 1995.
