Abedus herberti
| Abedus herberti | |
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| Male with eggs on his back at the Cincinnati Zoo | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hemiptera |
| Suborder: | Heteroptera |
| Family: | Belostomatidae |
| Genus: | Abedus |
| Species: | A. herberti
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| Binomial name | |
| Abedus herberti Hidalgo, 1935
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Abedus herberti, the toe biter (a name also used for several other giant water bugs) or ferocious water bug, is a species of giant water bug in the family Belostomatidae.[1][2] It is native to streams, especially in highlands, in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah in the United States and in northwestern Mexico.[3][4] Adults are typically 2 to 4 cm (0.8–1.6 in) long.[3][5] The species is flightless, but may move overland between water sources.[3] It will bite in self-defense, which is painful but not dangerous.[3]
A. herberti is often displayed in zoos, sometimes together with the sunburst diving beetle.[6] These two species also occur together in the wild.[7]
Behavior
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As in its relatives, A. herberti has an unusual breeding behavior where the female attaches the eggs to the male's back and he takes care of them until they hatch into nymphs.[3] Each egg can measure as much as 6 mm × 2 mm (0.24 in × 0.08 in) when fully developed, making them some of the largest insect eggs.[5] After hatching from the eggs, the nymphs go through five instar stages before adulthood.[8]
A. herberti is a sit-and-wait predator that catches small animals, especially invertebrates such as other aquatic insects and snails, but also small vertebrates such as young fish and tadpoles.[7] Small and medium-sized prey items are caught with their strong front legs and stabbed with the proboscis, which injects a saliva that both incapacitates the prey and dissolves it.[7] The largest food category (animals 1.2 cm [0.5 in] or more in length) are mostly scavenged. The only prey they regularly catch alive (not just scavenge) in the largest category is nymphs of their own species.[7] Adults are generally highly cannibalistic towards their nymphs and older nymphs often eat younger; adults however only rarely cannibalize other adults.[7][8]
Subspecies
[edit]These two subspecies belong to the species Abedus herberti:
- Abedus herberti herberti Hidalgo, 1935
- Abedus herberti utahensis Menke, 1960
References
[edit]- ^ "Abedus herberti Report". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
- ^ "Abedus herberti". GBIF. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
- ^ a b c d e "Abedus herberti species Information". BugGuide.net. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
- ^ M.T. Bogan; O.G. Gutiérrez-Ruacho; J.A. Alvarado-Castro; D.A. Lytle (2013). "New Records of Martarega, Graptocorixa, and Abedus (Heteroptera: Notonectidae, Corixidae, Belostomatidae) From Northwestern Mexico and Arizona, Including the First Record of Graptocorixa emburyi In the United States". The Southwestern Naturalist. 58 (4): 494–497. doi:10.1894/0038-4909-58.4.494.
- ^ a b R.L. Smith; C. Horton (1998). "Fish predation on giant water bug (Heteroptera: Belostomatidae) eggs in an Arizona stream". Great Basin Naturalist. 58 (3): 292–293.
- ^ O’Sullivan, T. "Captive rearing study of the Thermonectus marmoratus" (PDF). St. Louis Zoo. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
- ^ a b c d e J. Velasco; V.H. Millan (1998). "Feeding Habits of Two Large Insects from a Desert Stream: Abedus herberti (Hemiptera: Belostomatidae) and Thermonectus marmoratus (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae)". Aquatic Insects. 20 (2): 85–96. doi:10.1076/aqin.20.2.85.4500.
- ^ a b R.L. Smith (1974). "Life History of Abedus herberti in Central Arizona (Hemiptera: Belostomatidae)". Psyche: A Journal of Entomology. 89 (2): 272–283. doi:10.1155/1974/83959.
External links
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Media related to Abedus herberti at Wikimedia Commons
| Authority control databases: National |
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