Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 1617 No. 1: 17 Oct. 2007
Type: Correspondence
Published: 2007-10-17
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.1617.1.4
Page range: 67–68
Abstract views: 45
PDF downloaded: 1

First record of a pygmy backswimmer (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Pleidae) from Micronesia

(RSZ) Department of Entomology, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164-6382, USA
(RSZ) Department of Entomology, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164-6382, USA
(RSZ) Department of Entomology, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164-6382, USA
Hemiptera Heteroptera Pleidae

Abstract

Pygmy backswimmers, pleids, can be common in aquatic habitats with stagnant or slow-moving water that is rich in vegetation.  They are small bugs, usually less than 3.5 mm in length and confine themselves to the vegetation in which they hide and where they prey on mosquito larvae and other small arthropods (Schuh and Slater 1995).  The family is represented by 37 species in three genera: Plea, confined to the Old World; Neoplea confined to the New World; and Paraplea, the largest and most widely distributed genus (Schuh and Slater 1995).

References

  1. Chen, P.-p., Nieser, N.& Zettel, H. (2005) The Aquatic and Semi-Aquatic bugs (Heteroptera: Nepomorpha & Geomorpha) of Malesia. Fauna Malesiana Handbook 5. Brill, Leiden. 546 pp.

    Hawking, J.H., Smith, L.M., & Le Busque, K. (2006) Identification and Ecology of Australian Freshwater Invertebrates. Available from: www.mdfrc.org.au/bugguide (viewed on 21 September 2007).

    Jansson, A. & Meyer-Rochow, V.B. (1900) Sound production in Synaptonecta issa (Heteroptera: Corixidae, Micronectinae). Applied Entomological Zoology, 25, 328–331.

    Polhemus, D.A. (1988) Family Pleidae Fieber, 1851: The Pygmy Backswimmers. In: Henry, T. J. & Froeschner R. C. (Eds). Catalog of the Heteroptera, or True Bugs, of Canada and the Continental United States. E. J. Brill, Leiden. pp 608–610.

    Polhemus, J.T. (1996) New Hawaiian Island records for aquatic Heteroptera. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers, 46, 34–35.

    Polhemus, J.T. & Rutter, R.P. (1997) Synaptonecta issa (Heteroptera, Corixidae), first new world record of an Asian water bug in Florida. Entomological News, 108, 300–304.

    Schuh, R.T. & Slater, J.A. (1995) True Bugs of the World (Hemiptera: Heteroptera): Classification and Natural History. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY. 336 pp.