About the water bug of the smooth and the giant belostomu

Some people are used to seeing bugs peacefully swarming under the roots of trees (soldier bugs), and someone knows them as malicious pests of grain fields, flowers and seedlings (for example, bug bug turtle). Some also have to make their presence in their own home (bed bugs). But the fact that there are also water bugs (smooths, including giant ones) would be a discovery for many. And this is not a single species, but a whole group of insects - Hydrocores, and it deserves special attention.

Generally speaking, bugs from different families are quite different from each other. Each insect is unique in its own way, but there are also truly unusual specimens. For example, some bugs that live in the water, are also excellent flyers. How do they manage to exist in two elements at once - water and air?

So, get acquainted - water bug or smooth.

 

Gladysha not confuse with anyone

Take a closer look at the photo of the bug-sleek. He completely justifies his name:

His body, in fact, smooth and streamlined, resembles a boat, deftly and incredibly quickly dissecting the water column. There are a water bug and two powerful "oars" - this is the back pair of legs. They significantly exceed the size of the other limbs and bear on themselves elastic bristles. A water bug is enough to make a few strokes "oars" - and he has already advanced a considerable distance.

This species of Coleoptera prefers stagnant water bodies. But it is not at all necessary to be near lakes or ponds to see this water bug, because the smooth surface dwells in any puddle or barrel, standing in the garden, and can even find itself on the veranda in the evening, attracted by the light of the lamp.

The water bug is capable of quite long flights. In the air, this insect rises at night, as a rule, with one goal: to find a rich reservoir of food. The fulfillment of this important mission in bedbugs are thick brown elytra and tender webbed wings of a transparent color.

Two large (by the standards of the insect) eyes attract attention.Nobody escapes the penetrating gaze of a water predator.

Like all bedbugs, the smooth-headed piercing-sucking oral apparatus. Having overtaken the victim, the water bug tenaciously holds it with its forelimbs, pierces its shell, injects the digestive enzyme during the bite and sucks the juice out of it.

It is interesting

Water bugs can not be called silence. A smooth male is a real musician. He scrapes the front pair of legs in his proboscis, making a sound similar to the chirping of grasshoppers.

 

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 nickname very suitable for him - Wasserbiene, which means “water bee”.

There is a strangeness in the bed bug 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, he turns his belly upwards. It is this feature that helps members 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, gape, often he himself is a victim.And smoothies can easily be eaten by poultry or fish. True, nature gave him the opportunity to avoid a fateful meeting with the enemy. The back of the water bug is bright, which makes it inconspicuous when viewed from the depths of the reservoir. The belly, on the contrary, is dark. Not every bird can see a water bug against a dark bottom.

Eggs their bug smoothly hides. Groups of light yellow eggs laid in a circle can be found in May at the bottom of a reservoir or attached to the bottom of underwater plants. They mature for two weeks, and when the water is warm - faster.

The larvae, similar to the parents, only lighter, during the summer undergo four molts and reach sexual maturity. The chitinous cover remaining after the molt repeats the shape of the insect itself so precisely that it is easy to confuse it with a living individual.

 

With giant bedbugs jokes are bad

A smooth eye is capable of causing serious damage not only to insects, but may well be the cause of the death of small fish. What then to speak about giant water bugs, belostomah? They look menacing. Their powerful forelimbs resemble the claws of cancer and leave no hope that the prey will be able to break out of the predator's dead grip.

The impressive size of a 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 inflict on the inhabitants of reservoirs, they have earned the fame of "fish killers."

Fortunately, this type of insect is not yet found on the territory of Russia. Giant water bugs are a disaster for North America, Southeast Asia and South Africa. Similar insects were found in one of the lakes of Western Europe.

Belostomas are notable for their touching attitude towards their offspring, and the lion’s share of child-bearing concerns lies literally on the father’s shoulders: the female lays eggs directly on his elytra. Often it fits about a hundred future klopikov. In the spring, the male who cares for 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 insects in a fried form, and this food is in good demand.Due to the attractiveness of giant bugs as a food product, their numbers have drastically decreased in some regions.

 

Are encounters with water bugs dangerous?

Generally speaking, the usual “Russian” smoothness is not a very aggressive bug, and he is unlikely to have a crazy idea to attack a person. But when people, neglecting elementary caution, decide to take an insect in their hands, it will immediately respond with a burning injection, which will be felt for a long time. Mostly the most curious and fearless children suffer from water bug bites.

A giant water bug is also not inclined to hunt people, but it happens that bathers bitten by a belostoma jump out of the water with a face twisted in pain.

However, most often the water bug at a meeting with a person is wiser: he pretends to be lifeless or uses a technique typical of most bugs - throws a fragrant secret in order to scare off the enemy. Fortunately, the bites of water bugs are not dangerous to human life, although it is very painful.

On a note

Belostoma can harm people and in another way.In early spring or autumn, when the instincts force them to rise on the wing, flocks of giant water bugs, moving at a decent speed, can bump into people walking at water reservoirs. Nothing pleasant, these collisions do not promise.

No matter how menacing the water bugs may seem to us, you shouldn’t be too afraid of them and destroy them all the more. Let us not forget that tireless gadyshes destroy up to a hundred mosquito larvae in 24 hours. The probability of being attacked by mosquitoes is disproportionately higher than being bitten by a smooth face.

And the giant bugs are practically the only natural enemies of the three-fin turtles, which represent a real threat to the young of the commercial fish. Any animal is part of the food chain, and each participant in it should do their own thing. Water bugs are not the living creatures that need to be feared and destroyed.

 

Bedbug in water

 

Interesting video: a giant water bug fights a real snake