Someone is used to seeing bedbugs peacefully swarming under the roots of trees (soldier bugs), and someone knows them as malicious pests of grain fields, flowers and seedlings (for example, a harmful turtle bug). Some also have to endure their presence in their own home (bed bugs). But the fact that there are also water bugs (smooth, including giant ones) would be a discovery for many. Moreover, this is not a single species, but a whole group of insects - Hydrocores, and it deserves special attention.
Generally speaking, bedbugs from different families are quite different from each other. Each insect is unique in its own way, but there are also truly extraordinary specimens. For example, some water bugs are also excellent fliers. How do they manage to exist in two elements at once - water and air?
So, get acquainted - a water bug or a smooth surface.
You can't confuse a smoothie with anyone
Take a closer look at the photo of the smooth bug. It absolutely lives up to its name:
His body, in fact, is smooth and streamlined, reminiscent of a boat, deftly and incredibly quickly dissecting the water column.The water bug also has two powerful “oars” - this is the back pair of legs. They are much larger than the rest of the limbs and bear elastic bristles. It is enough for a water bug to make a few strokes of the “oars” - and it has already advanced a considerable distance.
This species of Hemiptera prefers bodies of water with stagnant water. But it is not at all necessary to be near lakes or ponds to see this water bug, because the smooth one settles in any puddle or in a barrel standing in the garden, and can even end up on the veranda in the evening, attracted by the light of a lamp.
The water bug is capable of quite long flights. This insect rises into the air at night, as a rule, with one purpose: to find a reservoir rich in food. The fulfillment of this important mission in smooth bugs is served by dense brown elytra and delicate membranous wings of a transparent color.
Two large (by the standards of an insect) eyes attract attention. No one escapes the penetrating gaze of an aquatic predator.
Like all bedbugs, the smooth-skinned bug has piercing-sucking mouthparts. Having overtaken the victim, the water bug tenaciously holds it with its forelimbs, pierces its shell, injects a digestive enzyme during the bite and sucks the juice out of it.
It is interesting
Water bugs cannot be called silent. Smooth male is a real musician. It scrapes its proboscis with its front pair of legs, making a sound similar to the chirping of grasshoppers.
The strange habits of the "water bee"
The bite of a water bug feels close to a bee sting. Therefore, the Germans came up with a very suitable nickname for the smoothie - Wasserbiene, which means "water bee".
The smooth bug has one oddity that distinguishes it from other insects living in the water. This water bug swims in a completely different way than most insects do. A large creature with spread wings changes beyond recognition when it finds itself in the water column.
When immersed, it turns upside down. It is this feature that helps representatives of the genus Notonecta to hunt. The water bug controls the surface of the pond, where it is easy to find small insects and their larvae.
But any predator, gaping, often turns out to be a victim. So smooth can easily be eaten by a bird or fish. True, nature gave him the opportunity to avoid a fatal meeting with the enemy. The back of the water bug is light, which makes it inconspicuous when viewed from the depths of the reservoir. The abdomen, on the other hand, is dark.Not every bird will make out a water bug against a dark bottom.
The smoothness of the bug hides its eggs securely. Groups of light yellow, circled eggs can be found in May at the bottom of a pond or attached to the bottom of underwater plants. They ripen for two weeks, and when the water is warm - faster.
The larvae, similar to the parents, only lighter, undergo four molts during the summer and reach sexual maturity. The chitinous cover remaining after molting repeats the outlines of the insect itself so exactly that it is easy to confuse it with a living individual.
Giant bedbugs are no joke
Gladysh is capable of causing serious damage not only to insects, but may well become the culprit in the death of small fish. What, then, to talk about giant water bugs, belostomes? They look menacing. Their powerful forelimbs resemble cancer claws and leave no hope that the prey will be able to escape from the stranglehold of a predator.
The impressive size of the giant water bug (more than 10 cm in length) allows it to attack rather large living creatures: frogs, turtles, fish. For the damage that water bugs cause to the inhabitants of reservoirs, they have earned the fame of "fish killers".
Fortunately, this species of insects has not yet been found on the territory of Russia. Giant water bugs are a scourge in North America, Southeast Asia and South Africa. Similar insects were also found in one of the lakes in Western Europe.
Belostomas are distinguished by a touching attitude towards offspring, and the lion's share of worries about bearing children falls literally on the shoulders of the father: the female lays eggs directly on his elytra. Often, about a hundred future bedbugs fit on it.In the spring, the male, who takes care of the younger generation, resembles a hedgehog
It is interesting
Thailand is famous for its special, unusual for European taste, cuisine. The Thais could not help but pay attention to such a "tidbit" as a giant water bug. Exotic lovers can try these fried insects, and this dish is in good demand. Due to the attractiveness of giant bugs as a food product, their numbers have declined catastrophically in some regions.
And further: Since bedbugs drink blood, can they carry AIDS or hepatitis from one person to another? Let's figure it out...
Are encounters with water bugs dangerous?
Generally speaking, the usual "Russian" smooth is not a very aggressive bug, and he is unlikely to come up with a crazy idea to attack a person. But when people, neglecting elementary caution, decide to take the insect in their hands, it will immediately respond with a burning prick, which will be felt for a long time. Mostly the most curious and fearless - children - suffer from the bites of water bugs.
The giant water bug is also not inclined to prey on people, but it happens that bathers bitten by a belostomy jump out of the water with a face twisted from pain.
However, most often, when meeting with a person, a water bug acts wiser: it pretends to be inanimate or uses a technique typical for most bugs - it throws out an odorous secret in order to scare off the enemy. Fortunately, water bug bites are not dangerous to human life, although they are very painful.
On a note
Belostomas can harm people in other ways.In early spring or autumn, when instinct compels them to take to the wing, flocks of giant water bugs, moving at a decent speed, may run into people walking near water bodies. These collisions do not promise anything pleasant.
No matter how formidable water bugs seem to us, we should not be too afraid of them, let alone massively destroy them. Let's not forget that tireless smoothies destroy up to hundreds of mosquito larvae per day. The probability of being attacked by mosquitoes is incommensurably higher than being bitten by a smoothie.
And giant bugs are practically the only natural enemies of three-keel turtles, which pose a real threat to juveniles of commercial fish. Any animal is part of the food chain, and each participant in it must do his own thing. Water bugs are not the kind of living creatures that need to be feared and destroyed.
Bed bug smooth in the water
Interesting video: a giant water bug fights a real snake
In the last video, it’s not a bug, but a swimming beetle. A very serious and strong predator that attacks even small fish. The snake is clearly out of luck.
You are wrong, this is not a swimming beetle at all, but a large tropical water bug, belostoma.
Tell me, why is the smooth bug dangerous?
And one more feature of the smoothie: he has no antennae. Not the slightest trace. For some reason this is not written anywhere. And other water bugs do not have antennae. Why? Could someone explain to me why. After all, water beetles have antennae.
Tell me how to get rid of smoothies in the pool? We didn’t have time to start the pool, a week later we found floating beetles, everything would be fine if they didn’t attack, it’s impossible to swim - they really bite painfully! Children are afraid to go into the pool, just a nightmare!
Net - cover from above, such as gauze, if the pool is not large. If it’s huge, then try to put up with them, after all, mosquito protection =)
Same stuff. Here, I am looking for a way to get rid of it, because bleach does not help ((
Julia, are you not familiar with the saying "we would care about you"? :))
Belostomas do not occur, you say? Nothing to fear, kids? (I do not scold you). Have you heard of the water scorpion bug? The same thing, just a little smaller. It is found everywhere on the territory of Russia, and in lakes too, and in large lakes it can squash. The eggs are laid in the stems of aquatic plants. Keep your eyes open, diver!
Hello. I'm 10 years old. My mom and dad and I are looking for a way to get rid of these small underwater wasps. She bit me. And now we are looking for a way to get rid of it. Does chlorine really help?