British Insects: the Families of Hemiptera
| British Insects: the Families of Hemiptera | |
Pondweed Bug.
Salient features of adults. Terrestrial (at the edge of water), or dwelling (skating) on the surface of water.
Predacious, or feeding on dead arthropods (on living or dead arthropods). Tiny; 3–4 mm long; fliers, or non-fliers; relatively stout bodied (elongate-oval); conspicuously stilt-legged. Head non-linear (large-headed). Rostrum clearly separated ventrally from the prosternum by a sclerotized gula; 3 segmented. Antennae longer than the head, readily visible from above; 4 segmented; non-aristate. Fore-wings well developed to vestigial or absent; in the resting insect lying more or less flat over the abdomen; when macropterous, differentiated into a basally thickened and a distally membranous region; of macropters, with a clavus. Hind coxae mobile; rotatory. Tarsi 3 segmented (the basal segment very small). Claws all apical. Pulvilli absent. The abdomen covered ventrally with dense, silvery pubescence.
Comments. An olive green bug with dark markings; underside of abdomen with silvery pubescence, and ovipositor well developed; prosternum without a stridulatory groove.
Taxonomy. Suborder Heteroptera; Gerroidea.
British representation. Genera 1; 1 species.
The interactive key offers full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2003 onwards. British insects: the families of Hemiptera. Version: 9th April 2007. http://delta-intkey.com’.