ENY 3005 Family Identification
Hemiptera: Nepidae
Pronunciation: NEH-pi-dee
Common name: waterscorpions
Identifying characteristics:
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Elongate, 20-40 mm in size.
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Raptorial front legs.
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Long, slender breathing tubes extending tail-like from the abdomen.
Species in the family Nepidae are separated from those in Belostomatidae
by having nonretractable breathing tubes and middle and hind legs adapted
for walking rather than swimming. Members of the genus Ranatra look
somewhat like walkingsticks and mantids, but are readily distinguished
by mouth-type, wing form, and breathing tubes. The more oval shaped Nepa
apiculata has front legs that appear much like the pedipalps of a scorpion.
This picture of a waterscorpion collected in a swimming pool provides another view of the raptorial front legs, walking-type middle and hind legs, and posterior breathing tubes.
References:
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Page 114 in D. J. Borror and R. E. White. 1970. A Field Guide to the Insects.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.
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Page 238 in J. A. Slater and R. M. Baranowski. 1978. How to Know the True
Bugs. Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown Co. 256 p.
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Page 140 in R. G. Bland and H. E. Jaques. 1978. How to Know the Insects,
3rd ed. Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown Co. 409 p.
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Page 294 in D. J. Borror, C. A. Triplehorn, and N. F. Johnson. 1989. An Introduction
to the Study of Insects, 6th ed. Philadelphia: Saunders College Publishing.
875 p.
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Page 426 in H. V. Daly, J. T. Doyen, and A. H. Purcell III. 1998. Introduction
to Insect Biology and Diversity, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press. 680 p.
Links to other web-based material
Families of Hemiptera: Corixidae,
Notonectidae, Nepidae,
Belostomatidae, Gerridae,
Miridae, Phymatidae,
Reduviidae, Lygaeidae,
Coreidae, Pentatomidae.
Return to ENY 3005 Index to
Orders
Prepared by
John L. Foltz,
University of Florida, Dept of Entomology & Nematology, 29 Sep 1998. Last modified 27 October 2004.