A cylindrical beak (or rostrum) folds neatly under the head. About 400 species are known throughout the world, but only 34 species inhabit North America. I used my hand to try the scoop up the little innocent looking backswimmer or maybe just make a little pool in my palm so it could swim around and people could get a good look.
Hey, thanks for the cautionary tale, Kirk. Those who've felt the wrath of the backswimmer will tell you their bite feels quite like a bee sting.
They grasp prey and cling to aquatic vegetation using their first and second pairs of legs. Backswimmers are in the insect order Hemiptera making them "true bugs." The larvae develop through five stages called instars. Those who've felt the wrath of the backswimmer will tell you their bite feels quite like a Backswimmers can stay underwater for hours at a time, by virtue of a portable SCUBA tank they carry with them. At maturity, most backswimmers measure less than ½ inch in length.Backswimmers prey on other aquatic insects, including fellow backswimmers, as well as on tadpoles or small fish. They molt at the end of each of these stages and emerge as adults at the end of their final metamorphosis.
The backswimmer's dorsal side is convex and V-shaped, like the keel of a boat.
They are in the family Notonectidae. The enzymes are irritating and burn like the sting of a wasp. I learned what backswimmers are the very first time I went dip netting.
Some folks had arrived late at the drop-in program and I wanted to catch them up on what we'd been seeing.
They've also been known to bite unsuspecting swimmers, a habit for which they've earned the nickname water wasps. Instead of the pain going away as I would expect from a tiny pinch from a tiny bug, it got worse and worse. I'd love to tell you the genus and species of the one that bit me but there are 400 species worldwide and many can only be identified by experts examining differences in the male's genitalia under a microscope. Kirk Mona is the founder of Twin Cities Naturalist. How did no backswimmer ever bite one of those 15,000 school kids? Hatching may occur in just a few days, or after several months, depending on the species and on environmental variables.
A backswimmer typically has a dark belly and a light-colored back.
It can swim upside-down through the water, often near the surface where it grabs insects that have fallen into the water film. Mated females deposit eggs in or on aquatic vegetation, or on the surface of rocks, usually in spring or summer.
Most species Backswimmers can and will bite people if handled carelessly, so use caution when skimming specimens from a pond or lake. A strong burning sensation spread through my finger as though I had been stung by a paper wasp. So far my insides have not liquified. The backswimmer did not appreciate my hands-on pedagogical technique. They've also been known to bite unsuspecting swimmers, a habit for which they've earned the nickname water wasps. Never realized these guys could bite.
Yup, sounds right. I saw this as a great personal learning opportunity so here is what I have learned. There’s a reason to avoid this bug: the bite feels a lot like a bee sting.
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